Overview

Archaeology is truly an infant discipline in Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions though it is just now barely coming of age. The earliest known attempt to initiate a program in the field goes back to the 1960s, when the Department of History at Addis Ababa University (AAU) proposed a program in Archaeology. Consequently, the Department was allowed to offer archaeology courses to its students. In 1978, the Department opened an “Archaeology Unit,” which became instrumental to deliver various archaeology courses to its students in the non-teaching stream.

A practical response to the problem of training professionals in Archaeology was given in September 2002 by AAU when a graduate program in Archaeology was launched under the Department of History. The success attained at the M.A level encouraged AAU to plan and develop the “Archaeology Unit” into a full-fledged Department Archaeology and Heritage Management. As a result, an undergraduate Program in Archaeology and Heritage Program was initiated in 2009/10 academic year by enrolling 24 students. At the beginning of 2010/11 academic year, the university materialized its plan of establishing a full-fledged Department of Archaeology and Heritage Management, one of the six departments currently housed under the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Currently, the department runs both graduate and undergraduate programs drawing a variety of courses in its curricula. Since the opening of the graduate program, trainees drawn from universities, research centers and Culture and Tourism bureaus including few self-sponsored students have attended the program. Our graduates are now engaged in higher education institutions, private business and in culture and tourism.Besides, 40% of the alumni are attending their further studies in African, American and European Universities. Thus, the graduate program in Archaeology has provided an important opportunity for students to do further studies. The department aspires to be a centre of excellence in Archaeology and Heritage Management in Ethiopia and the Horn.

Vision/Mission

The department’s mission has the following three core aspects:

Teaching

• Training skilled manpower to provide service in the fields of Archaeology, Heritage Management and Tourism.
• Expansion of graduate programs to meet the demand for trained Archaeology and Heritage Management Professionals in higher education institutions, Federal and Regional Bureaus of Culture and Tourism, Museums, research centres and other government and non-government organizations.
• Developing a sound practice-oriented training program that would contribute to scientific exploration of the country’s heritage, its protection and to the country’s development through the heritage industry(tourism)
• Carrying out staff development to meet the needs of the department.
• Developing teaching materials and training manuals

Research

• Conducting intensive need oriented research in the fields of Archaeology, Heritage Management and Tourism.
•  Undertaking collaborative research with national and international scholars and research institutions in line with the national interest.
• Increasing publication output of the department
• Promoting original research by its staff and  students
• Disseminating research output to stakeholders and the wide public

Community Service

• Enhancing the country’s capacity in the conservation and preservation cultural natural and heritages for sustainable development
• Promoting the country’s heritage through all forms of media
• Disseminating research output to policy makers and the community at large
• Consulting local authorities to set up museums and galleries
• Providing training to amateur guides on historical and cultural values of archaeological and other tourist attractions
• Organizing short term training programs in the fields of heritage management to federal and regional bureaus of culture and tourism