Dr. Andrea Kay
Main Focus
Andrea Kay received a BA in Anthropology from the University of Rhode Island and an MSc in GIS and Spatial Analysis in Archaeology from the University College London. She completed her PhD in Environmental Science, entitled 'Livelihoods, land use, and population in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa: Advances in the quantification of human-environment interactions over archaeological time-scales', at the University of Lausanne. This research focused on large-scale syntheses of published archaeological data in order to classify, quantify, and map livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa to better understand the impacts of these systems on their local environments. Andrea's thesis represents one aspect of a wider interest in the fundamental relationships between humans and their environment. Her work broadly investigates the ways in which societies adapt to different environmental conditions, and the ways in which they consciously or unconsciously shape their environment, particularly with regard to land use.
As a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Archaeology, Andrea is responsible for coordinating the Global Markers of the Anthropocene Project and the ArchaeoGLOBE Project. Both of these projects are concerned with understanding the large-scale impacts of human activities through time and involve extensive networks of international collaborators. She has previously held an Early Postdoctoral Mobility fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation hosted by the University of Queensland and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. That project used a combination of macro and micro scale archaeobotanical methods to build a more complete picture of the human-environment interactions of early farming communities in Southern Zambia, as well as better constrain the dates of the introduction of farming to the region. Andrea has broad geographical and temporal interests and has participated in research pertaining to several world regions including West Africa, Zambia, the Comoros, Egypt, Jordan, Greece, Italy, Belize, Hawai‘i, and the Philippines.
Curriculum Vitae
August 2018: PhD, Environmental Science, Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics (IDYST), University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
November 2008: MSc, GIS and Spatial Analysis in Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK.
May 2005: BA, Anthropology, University of Rhode Island, USA.
Publications
Stephens, L., D. Fuller, N. Boivin, T. Rick, N. Gauthier, A. Kay,
B. Marwick, C. G. D. Armstrong, C. M. Barton, T. Denham, K. Douglass,
J. Driver, L. Janz, P. Roberts, J. D. Rogers, H. Thakar, M. Altaweel, A.
L. Johnson, M. M. S. Vattuone, M. Aldenderfer, S. Archila, G. Artioli,
M. T. Bale, T. Beach, F. Borrell, T. Braje, P. I. Buckland, N. G. J.
Cano, J. M. Capriles, A. D. Castillo, Ç. Çilingiroğlu, M. N. Cleary, J.
Conolly, P. R. Coutros, R. A. Covey, M. Cremaschi, A. Crowther, L. Der,
S. di Lernia, J. F. Doershuk, W. E. Doolittle, K. J. Edwards, J. M.
Erlandson, D. Evans, A. Fairbairn, P. Faulkner, G. Feinman, R.
Fernandes, S. M. Fitzpatrick, R. Fyfe, E. Garcea, S. Goldstein, R. C.
Goodman, J. D. Guedes, J. Herrmann, P. Hiscock, P. Hommel, K. A.
Horsburgh, C. Hritz, J. W. Ives, A. Junno, J. G. Kahn, B. Kaufman, C.
Kearns, T. R. Kidder, F. Lanoë, D. Lawrence, G.-A. Lee, M. J. Levin, H.
B. Lindskoug, J. A. López-Sáez, S. Macrae, R. Marchant, J. M. Marston,
S. McClure, M. D. McCoy, A. Ventresca Miller, M. Morrison, G. M.
Matuzeviciute, J. Müller, A. Nayak, S. Noerwidi, T. M. Peres, C. E.
Peterson, L. Proctor, A. R. Randall, S. Renette, G. R. Schug, K.
Ryzewski, R. Saini, V. Scheinsohn, P. Schmidt, P. Sebillaud, O.
Seitsonen, I. A. Simpson, A. Sołtysiak, R. J. Speakman, R. N. Spengler,
M. L. Steffen, M. J. Storozum, K. M. Strickland, J. Thompson, T. L.
Thurston, S. Ulm, M. C. Ustunkaya, M. H. Welker, C. West, P. R.
Williams, D. K. Wright, N. Wright, M. Zahir, A. Zerboni, E. Beaudoin, S.
M. Garcia, J. Powell, A. Thornton, J. O. Kaplan, M.-J. Gaillard, K. K.
Goldewijk and E. Ellis (2019) Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s
early transformation through land use. Science, 365(6456), 897-902 doi: 10.1126/science.aax1192.
Kay, A. U., D. Q. Fuller, K. Neumann, B. Eichhorn, A. Höhn, J. Morin-Rivat, L. Champion, V. Linseele, E. Huysecom, S. Ozainne, L. Lespez, S. Biagetti, M. Madella, U. Salzmann, and J. O. Kaplan (2019) Diversification, Intensification, and Specialization: Changing land use in western Africa from 1800 BC to AD 1500. Journal of World Prehistory, 32(2), 179–228 doi: 10.1007/s10963-019-09131-2.
Vaiglova, P., P. Halstead, M. Pappa, S. Triantaphyllou, S.M. Valamoti, J. Evans, R. Fraser, P. Karkanas, A. Kay, J. Lee-Thorp, and A. Bogaard (2018) Of cattle and feasts: Multi-isotope investigation of animal husbandry and communal feasting at Neolithic Makriyalos, northern Greece. PLoS ONE, 13(6), e0194474 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0194474.
Morrison, K. D., E. Hammer, L. Popova, M. Madella, N. Whitehouse, M. J. Gaillard, J. Aleru, M. Arroyo-Kalin, A. Bauer, C. Betancourt, S. Biagetti, R. Bishop, O. Boles, C. Clement, P. Cruz, B. Dennis, A. Ekblom, K. Elizabeth, E. Ellis, S. Flantua, T. Foster, D. Gronenborn, M. Hannaford, J. Iriarte, A. Junqueira, A. Kay, K. Klein-Goldewijk, J. Kolář, C. Lancelotti, P. Lane, C. Leclerc, M.-P. Ledru, C. Lemmen, C. Levis, U. Lombardo, S. Maezumi, M. Manyanga, R. Marchant, N. Maughan, F. Mayle, C. McMichael, S. Monprapussorn, C. Moraes, R. Muchena, E. Neves, S. Pandey, L. Phelps, Z. Pinke, P. Riris, S. Rostain, T. Russel, R. Saini, M. Schmidt, A. Shikoni, A. Sluyter, R. Ssemulende, D. Stump, A. Styring, B. Sultan, P. Szabo, E. Tamanaha, E. Tello, E. Thomas, B. Vanniere, L. Wandsnider, M. Widgren (2018). Global-scale comparisons of human land use: developing shared terminology for land-use practices for global change. PAGES Magazine, 26(1), 8-9 doi:10.22498/pages.26.1.8.
Carter, V., S. Alexandroff, X. Benito, A. Bonk, M. Chevalier, A. Kay, A. Koch, S.Y. Maezumi, N. Schafstall, T. Trofimova (2018) The PAGES Early-Career Network. PAGES Magazine, 26(1), 36 doi:10.22498/pages.26.1.36.
Marchant, R., S. Richer, C. Capitani, C. Courtney-Mustaphi, M. Prendergast, D. Stump, S. Wynne-Jones, O. Boles, D. Wright, C. F. Vazquez, J. Lejju, C. Lang, P. Lane, A. Kay, L. Phelps, D. Fuller, M. Widgren, P. Punwong, N. Boivin, M. Gaillard-Lemdahl, K. Morrison, J. Kaplan, J. Benard, A. Crowther, A. Cuní-Sanchez, G. de Cort, N. Deeres, J. Farmer, L. Gillson, E. Githumbi, T. Kabora, R. Kariuki, R. Kinyanjui, E. Kyazike, H. McParland, V. Muiruri, C. Mumbi, R. Muthoni, A. Muzuka, E. Ndiema, C. Nzaba, D. Olago, I. Onjala, A. P. Schrijver, N. Petek, A. Reid, S. Rucina, C. Shipton, A. Shoemaker, S. Thornton-Barnett, G. van der Plas, L. Watson, and D. Williamson (2018) Drivers and trajectories of land cover change in East Africa: human and environmental interactions from 6000 years ago to present. Earth-Science Reviews, 178, 322-378 doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.12.010.
Kay, A. U., L.N. Phelps, and J. O. Kaplan (2016) Mapping Human Subsistence in West Africa (1000 BC to AD 1500). Workshop Report. PAGES Magazine, 24(1), 38 doi:10.22498/pages.24.1.38.
Kay, A. U. and J. O. Kaplan (2016) A classification of subsistence lifestyles and land use in prehistoric Africa. Abstract for presentation given at The African Quaternary: environments, ecology and humans (AFQUA), Cape Town, South Africa, 30 January – 7 February 2015. Quaternary International, 404(Part B), 211-212 doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.08.211.
Smith, A. M. II and A. U. Kay (2016) Bir Madhkur Project. In Corbett, G. J., D. R. Keller, B. A. Porter, and C. P. Shelton “Archaeology in Jordan, 2014 and 2015 Seasons.” American Journal of Archaeology, 120(4), 631–672 doi:10.3764/aja.120.4.0631.
Kay, A. U. and J. O. Kaplan (2015) Human subsistence and land use in sub-Saharan Africa, 1000 BC to AD 1500: A review, quantification, and classification. Anthropocene, 9, 14-32 doi:10.1016/j.ancene.2015.05.001.