Universities will always "pimp" themselves and be selective in the league tables they use.
I really wouldn't pay too much attention to league tables as they are always liable to fluctuate year on year. In truth it is very rare for a department to be THE best and this is one of the problems with league tables, they give people a misleading view that there's some ladder in place. Both Durham and Cambridge offer
amongst the strongest archaeology departments in the country, that much is true.
You would imagine. But what you imagine isn't necessarily the reality.
Employers typically don't sit there creaming over Oxford and Cambridge and it is unlikely they will employer a Cambridge grad over a Durham grad simply because he or she attended Cambridge. Particularly when it is claimed only a minority (albeit significant minority) place weight on university name. Even amongst those who do, they won't necessarily have a list of preferences as such, just use it as an initial filter (taking applications from Russell and 1994 Group universities, and some others).
Then you also need to take university classification into account. A 2:1 from Durham will usually be preferred over a 2:2 from Cambridge, particularly when a 2:1 is a minimum requirement.
I'm possibly just confusing you even more here, but these are just statistics and don't tell the entire story. There can be a number of reasons why that 10% of Cambridge graduates aren't yet in employment or study. Some travel, for example.
Or perhaps Durham has a particularly high percentage of graduates in further study?
Just take these figures critically. Don't think Durham will give you better employment prospects as it won't (though rarely will Cambridge give a significant advantage). Ultimately you're the person who gets the job.
This isn't to say Cambridge can't give you advantages Durham cannot. But if you have a strong preference for Durham's course and are unsure about anthrolpolhy, and still like the location of Durham, then Durham is still worth serious consideration.
Research anthropology some more, don't get distracted by employments stats and league table positions, focus on the course content and what you want.
Subjective. Depends on what you mean by "great city". Durham is far smaller, yes, and it can feel claustrophobic.
I'm not aware of any universities who do. Contact hours in the archaeology department, although possibly sufficient, are relatively modest. I'm not an archaeology student but I do know Introduction to Archaeology has a lecture per week and only four tutorials during the year. But this does vary by module, often depending on whether they are more theory or practical based. Another level one module, Archaeology Practicals, has a smaller number of lectures but more practicals, tutorials and supervised fieldwork. Tutorials will still consist of small groups and not supervisions of one or two people as far as I'm aware.
Can you help please?