Welcome to the Department of Historical and Archaeological Studies. The Department of Historical and Archaeological Studies, formerly the Department of History, was established concurrently with the University of Zambia (UNZA) in 1966. During the following decades, the Department of History underwent some structural shifts which reflected institutional evolution and administrative history of UNZA itself. When UNZA opened its doors to its first cohort of students in March 1966, the Department of History operated within the fundamental framework of the university's foundational schools. However, structural reorganizations soon followed as the fledging university sought to optimize its delivery of academic programmes. During the 1973/1974 academic year, the Department of History was integrated into the administrative structure of the School of Education. This move was designed to align academic disciplines closely with teacher training, a reflection of the immediate post-independence national priority of producing qualified secondary school educators. This arrangement persisted until the 1988/1989 academic year, when the history department was transferred back to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS). This relocation re-emphasized the department's role as a core liberal arts discipline dedicated to pure research, critical theory, and social analysis. The next major structural transformation occurred in 2005, when the university formally integrated archaeology into the department's core mandate, officially renaming it the Department of Historical and Archaeological Studies. This integration recognised the interdisciplinary necessity of combining material culture, archaeology, and oral and written records to construct a holistic past of human endeavors.
The intellectual heritage of the Department of Historical and Archaeological Studies is defined by its contribution to the "decolonisation of African history." In the late 1960s and 1970s, early faculty members—comprising both indigenous Zambian scholars and expatriate historians—confronted a colonial narrative that had long marginalized African agency. The department became a vibrant workshop for the methodology of oral traditions, economic and labour history, and the study of pre-colonial political systems. A key milestone in institutionalising this research came in 1981 with the publication of the inaugural volume of the Zambia Journal of History (ZJH). The journal provided a dedicated peer-reviewed platform for local and international scholars to publish cutting-edge research on Zambian colonial and post-colonial social, political, and economic dynamics. Throughout its changes, the department has maintained a robust academic rigor. It offers diverse curricula spanning pre-colonial and post-colonial African and Zambian history, the history of imperialism, European history, global revolutions, and specialized methodological training in historical, archival and archaeological fields of research. Currently, the Department of Historical and Archaeological Studies offers several degrees within the School of Humanities and Social Sciences including the recently introduced bachelors’ degree programme in Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Over the years, the Department of Historical and Archaeological Studies has trained generations of students who have become secondary school teachers, civil servants, diplomats, and academics. In this way, the department has profoundly shaped the civic consciousness and historical literacy of the nation. Thus, the Department of Historical and Archaeological Studies at the University of Zambia remains a vital custodian of the nation's collective memory and a cornerstone of its intellectual heritage.