Brief History

The Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, the first Department of Archaeology in Sub-Saharan Africa, was established in 1951. Until 1963, it functioned as a research department; except for short courses given once a year to the students of the History Department. In 2008, the department was rebranded to become the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies. This also ushered in news programmes in heritage studies.

Currently the department has a vibrant undergraduate Bachelor of Arts program on the main and city campuses of the University of Ghana with an enrolment of over one thousand students. There are four key graduate programmes in the department. These include MA in Museum and Heritage Studies, M.Phil. in Archaeology, D.Phil. in Archaeology and D.Phil. in Museum and Heritage Studies. The Museum of Archaeology and the Leventis Foundation Center have also been established in the department to support teaching and research. In addition to pedagogy in archaeological, heritage and anthropological theories, students are given hands-on field and practical training in other to prepare them for the archaeological and heritage industries. The areas of specialization in the department include core archaeology, heritage studies, forensic archaeology, applied archaeology, visual anthropology, rituals and religion, and cultural anthropology.

The department has a teaching faculty of 16 senior members and 9 supporting staff.