The course is very theoretical. You will come out with an unparalleled knowledge of theoretical perspectives in archaeology over the last century or so, which is helpful if going on to do further research, and generally developing a thoughtful attitude to what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. However, the course is much less strong on the practicalities than other university courses – you could come out having done only six weeks fieldwork and with no practical skills below the interpretation level. On the other hand, depending on what options you take, you could come out with a strong grounding in a range of basic scientific techniques used in archaeology, and/or with a specific skill such as lithic or bone analysis that you’ve chosen to develop through the dissertation.
Strengths lie in the chronological and geographical range of the courses offered – although very few people in the department seem to think that anything after about 1500AD is archaeology – and also in the resources: the collections in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology are made available to students; there are labs for geoarchaeology, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, isotopes and genetics, which are happy to host undergraduates for research projects or dissertations; and library and journal resources are fantastic (the university library being a copyright library). Teaching through the supervision system is also useful, as for each essay written you get an hour talking about it with two or three other students and a member of staff.
The course provides a good basic grounding in archaeology and archaeological thought, if not being focused on teaching the techniques of practical archaeology. Working in a field unit after graduating would require more field experience than the course provides (which can be got by persistent volunteering over the summer breaks). Many students choose to go on to further study and/or training (eg. Masters courses). Careers advice for continuing in archaeology doesn’t exist, although most members of the department would be happy to answer any questions you’ve got if you ask them and to point you in the right direction if they can. Opportunities to get involved with things to improve your CV do come up – for example, volunteering in the museums, or on the Access Archaeology schemes. It is, of course, an excellent place to start if you want to go on and do further academic study and research.
As with all Cambridge courses, be prepared for it to be a very busy three years.