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Department of Archaeology

 

Dr David Kay

Biography

I gained a BA (Hons) in Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Cambridge (2011-2014) before studying for an MA in The Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the University of East Anglia (2014-2015). I subsequently worked on a variety of both archaeological and anthropological projects as a graduate attaché at The British Institute in Eastern Africa before returning to Cambridge to pursue a PhD (King’s College, 2021). After working for several years as a geoarchaeological specialist for Oxford Archaeology (a role I continue on a part-time basis), I returned to the McDonald Institute in November 2025 as a Research Associate on the ERC-funded project ‘Landscape Historical Ecology and Archaeology of Ancient Pastoral Societies in Kenya (LHEAAPS)’, for which I am conducting geoarchaeological and landscape archaeological work to track changes in pastoralist settlement and land use in central Kenya over the past c. 1200 years.

Research

Though primarily a geoarchaeologist, I entertain eclectic interests—theoretical and methodological—spanning both East African and European contexts.

My current research with the LHEAAPS project uses techniques drawn from across geoarchaeology and landscape archaeology to investigate changes in mobility and settlement patterns amongst the pastoralist communities of Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau over the past c. 1200 years. This involves the ‘on-site’ analyses of the spatial patterning of different settlement zones and their sedimentary legacies, and ‘off-site’ assessments of long-term landscape development through the tracking of sedimentary signatures linked to both pastoralist activity and broader-scale climate change.

At a broader level, I am a keen proponent of using micromorphological approaches within broader archaeological investigations, particularly in connecting sites to wider landscapes. I also maintain an active interest in many aspects of archaeological theory, especially multi-scalar perspectives centred on the theme of ‘rhythm’ which interweave diverse human, ecological and material agencies.

Key Publications

Key publications

Peer-reviewed papers:

  • Lunn-Rockliffe, S. and Kay, D.K. (in press) The Unruly Ecologies of Embobut. Weather Matters
  • Lunn-Rockliffe, S., Davies, M.I.J., Kiprutto, T.K., Cheptorus, J.K., Moore, H.L.M., Chepto, H., Bailengo, N., Kay, D.K., Kipkore, W. (under review) Re-centering small-holder farmers as innovators, a case study from Elgeyo-Marakwet, Kenya. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability
  • Davies, M.I.J, Moore, H.L., Bailengo, N., Bernstein, M., Cheptoo, H., Kiprutto, T.K., Lunn-Rockliffe, S., Kay, D.K. and Kipkore, W.K. (2024) Unintended consequences, conflict and resilience in a small-scale irrigation development, Marakwet, Kenya. Africa, 94 (2): 251–275. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972024000238
  • Kay, D.K. (2023) Mobile Sedentism? The Marakwet Settlements of the Elgeyo Escarpment, northwest Kenya. Afriques: débats, méthodes et terrains d'histoire, 14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/afriques.4013
  • Lunn-Rockliffe, S.P. and Kay, D.K. (2020) Agropastoralists? Late Iron Age and historic forest livelihoods in the Cherangani Hills of north-west Kenya. Antiquity, 94 (374): e10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.38
  • Kay, D.K. and Haughton, M. (2019) Weird Relations: A Prolegomenon to Posthumanism and its Archaeological Manifestations. Archaeological Review from Cambridge, 34 (2): 6–25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.59736
  • Kay, D.K., Lunn-Rockliffe, S. and Davies, M.I.J. (2019) The archaeology of South Sudan from c. 3000 BC to AD 1500. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 54 (4): 516–537. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2019.1681125

Book chapters:

  • Kay, D.K. and Davies, M.I.J. (under review) More than Symbols: Landscape, Rhythm and Meaning in Marakwet, northwest Kenya. In N. Petek-Sargeant et al. (eds.) Symbols in Action at 40: Baringo and beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • Haour, A., Nixon, S., Livingstone Smith, A., Nikis, N., and Kay, D.K. (2018) The Pottery. in A. Haour (ed.) Two Thousand Years in Dendi, Northern Benin: Archaeology, History and Memory. Leiden: Brill, pp. 139–173

Edited volumes:

  • Haughton, M. and Kay, D.K. (2019) Beyond the Human: Applying Posthumanist Thinking to Archaeology. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 34.2, Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.59726 

Commissioned research reports:

Book reviews:

  • Kay, D.K. (2024) Review: Tectonic Archaeology: Subduction Zone Geology in Japan and its Archaeological Implications, by Gina L. Barnes. Geoscientist, 35 (2): 47–48. Available at: https://geoscientist.online/sections/books-and-arts/tectonic-archaeolog…
  • Kay, D.K. and Kay, K. (2018) Review: Assemblage Theory, by Manuel DeLanda. Archaeological Review from Cambridge, 33 (1): 168–173

Doctoral thesis:

  • Kay, D.K. (2021) Unsettled Settlements: Continuity and change in the Marakwet habitation of the northern Elgeyo Escarpment, northwest Kenya, from c. 1850 to the present-day. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.80367

Other Professional Activities

  • Fellow (FGS) of The Geological Society of London
  • Honorary Research Fellow at The British Institute in Eastern Africa
  • Explorer at The National Geographic Society
  • Member of the Association for Environmental Archaeology
  • Member of the Quaternary Research Association
  • Member of the International Council of Museums (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Archaeology and History)

Job Titles

Research Associate, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

General Info

Not available for consultancy
Research Expertise / Fields of study
Material Culture
Socio-Politics of the Past
Archaeological Theory
Field Methods
Environmental Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, and Landscape studies
Cultural Heritage

Contact Details

dkk27[a]cam.ac.uk
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Cambridge
CB2 3ER
ORCID
Research Gate
Human Journey Academia

Affiliations

Person keywords
Geoarchaeology
Landscape
Theory
Africa
Britain
Themes
Environment, Landscapes and Settlement
Material Culture
Geographical areas
Africa
Britain
Cambridgeshire
Periods of interest
Classical - Roman
Copper/Bronze Age
Iron Age
Medieval
Neolithic
Other Historical
Other Late Prehistory

Contact Us

Postal Address:
Department of Archaeology
Downing Street
CB2 3DZ Cambridge

 

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