David Kay

David is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, working on the ERC-funded project LHEAAPS: Landscape Historical Ecology and Archaeology of Ancient Pastoral Societies in Kenya, led by Prof Paul Lane. This is his third stint at Cambridge, having previously studied for a BA (Peterhouse) and PhD (King’s), obtaining his MA at the University of East Anglia in the interim. 

He is a field archaeologist with specialist skills in geoarchaeology, being particularly interested in the connections between soils, landscapes, and communities both past and present. Whist his research is currently focussed on East African historical archaeology, he has also previously worked across the UK within the developer-funded archaeological sector, a role he continues on a part-time basis with Oxford Archaeology.

He also worked for a while as a college gardener at King’s after completing his PhD, and still maintains a love for all things horticultural.