Battlefield & Conflict Archaeology

Optional courses

In the spring term, you will have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of Optional Courses, which will allow you to explore particular areas of study in more detail. These courses draw upon the particular interests and expertise of the contributing staff and therefore the options available may vary slightly depending on staff availability and are also subject to a minimum number of students. Please contact us to confirm likely availability of Optional Courses in any given year.

You need to choose three optional courses in all, two of which must come from the following

• Early Modern Warfare

• British Battlefields

You also choose any one of the specialist courses

• Archaeological Theory and Interpretation
• Climate and Civilisation
• Critical Themes in the Display and Reception of Objects
• Early Christian Monuments of Scotland
• Early Medieval Artefacts
• Geographic Information Systems for Archaeological Projects (Introductory)
• Geophysical Survey: Interpretation & Applications
• Interpretation and Applications of Aerial Data
• Lithic Analysis
• Mediterranean landscapes
• Norse in the North Atlantic
• Scandinavian Scotland
• Science-based Analysis of Archaeological Materials
• Themes in early Medieval Scotland
• Viking Artefacts

Alternatively you can choose one of the courses offered by the Scottish Centre for War Studies (at the course convener’s discretion). See a full listing here

Career Prospects

The programme provides an excellent platform for you to move onto PhD studies and an academic career. The value now placed on battlefield and conflict sites also means that opportunities in relevant areas of cultural resource management have also increased. The wide variety of specialist optional courses should allow you to tailor your particular programme experience towards a direction that best suits your future plans upon completion. This, coupled with the unique hands-on practical aspects of the programme that encourage active student participation in field projects, should provide a solid foundation for programme graduates to continue to build upon, both academically and professionally. Past graduates have gone on to conduct conflict archaeology projects in Singapore, been employed as a professional archaeologist for the U.S. Army, and work for a UK-based commercial archaeology firms. Many past graduates have also gone on to pursue PhDs within the Centre focused on various aspects of conflict archaeology. If you have any questions about the course, the optional modules, or general enquiries, please contact the course convenor:


Dr. Tony Pollard