The General Board of the University of Cambridge has recommended plans to separate archaeology into its own Tripos only two years after the Archaeology and Anthropology Tripos was withdrawn.

According to a report submitted by the General Board of the Faculties, responsible for the academic education policy of the university, archaeology is to be spun off into its own Tripos with effect from October 2017.

The recommendations from the General Board, consisting of the Vice-Chancellor of the university among others, come only two years after archaeology, alongside social and biological anthropology, became part of the Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS) Tripos, whose first students matriculated in October 2013.

Previously, students had been able to study either the Politics, Psychology and Sociology (PPS) Tripos or the Archaeology and Anthropology Tripos, with students borrowing papers from the other Tripos on a regular basis.

Similar to current plans, psychology was separated into its own Psychological and Behavioural Sciences (PBS) Tripos in 2013.

The report states that the motivation for creating a separate Archaeology Tripos was to “provide a more focused core” than the Archaeology and Anthropology or HSPS Triposes while still allowing students to borrow papers from HSPS.

The remaining Human, Social and Political Sciences Tripos will consist of politics, international relations, sociology and social anthropology.

The proposed Archaeology Tripos is also intended, by virtue of its separate identity, to remedy the issue of the falling number of applicants applying to study the archaeology stream resulting from a “loss of visibility” since archaeology was integrated into the HSPS Tripos.

The report notes that, on current evidence, the annual intake for those wishing to study archaeology within the current Tripos arrangements will amount to no more than 10 students.
The new Archaeology Tripos is anticipated to have an annual intake of between 20 and 30 students, rising to between 40 and 50 students within a few years.

The separation of archaeology into its own Tripos will accompany other efforts to increase student numbers to the area, including taster days, school visits and college-linked outreach activities, intended to introduce potential applicants to archaeology.

The papers from which students can choose over Parts I, IIA and IIB are largely the same as those which they can choose within the archaeology track of the HSPS Tripos as currently administered.

Students will also be able to borrow papers from the HSPS and Classical Triposes.