Two PhD Studentships in the Archaeology of Later Pastoralism in Kenya

We invite applications for TWO 3-year funded PhD studentships starting in October 2025 under the supervision of Professor Paul Lane, as part of the Landscape Historical Ecology and Archaeology of Ancient Pastoral Societies in Kenya (LHEAAPS) project. These PhD studentships are funded by a UKRI Frontier Research Grant.

The LHEAAPS project aims to investigate the origins and evolution of Pastoral Iron Age societies in north-central Kenya through integrated analysis of patterns of human and livestock mobility, dietary practices, exchange networks, and responses to periods of known drought and increased rainfall over the last c. 1800 years. Through the innovative use of diverse bioarchaeological, archaeological and materials sciences approaches, these two PhD projects are intended to contribute to the reconstruction of exchange networks through archaeometric analyses of lithic and ceramic artefacts; and reconstructions of diet and herd management strategies (including seasonal and longer-term mobility of livestock) via combined zooarchaeology and isotopic analyses. These studies will contribute to wider syntheses and analyses aimed at demonstrating the value of understanding these pastoralist pasts as paths for planning more sustainable futures for the region's contemporary pastoralist societies. In doing
so, the project aspires to respond to calls to build long-term sustainability and resilience into social-ecological systems in sub-Saharan Africa through provision of deep histories of human-environment interactions and holistic approaches to the reconstruction of past and present human responses to climate-induced socioecological vulnerability.

We are looking for two highly motivated PhD students to join the project. The selected students will be jointly supervised by the PI of the project (Professor Paul Lane, University of Cambridge) and by other members of the Department and McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, depending on the dissertation topic.

PhD 1 will focus on reconstruction of the animal economies and herd management strategies on associated with Pastoral Iron Age sites across north-central Kenya, using a combination of standard zooarchaeological methods and isotopic analyses. This PhD will be co-supervised by Professor Lane and Dr Tamsin O'Connell. Training in these techniques and their application will form a core feature of the PhD.

PhD 2 will focus on reconstructing the scale, orientation and extent of past exchange networks associated with Pastoral Iron Age sites from across north-central Kenya through the use of a suite of reconstruct former exchange networks, a suite of geochemical and petrographic analyses and visual characterisation of obsidian and ceramic samples recovered from previous and planned future excavations. This PhD will be co-supervised by Professor Lane and Professor Marcos Mártinon-Torres. Training in these techniques and their application will form a core feature of the PhD., The PhD student will be part of the LHEAAPS core team (the PI, one post-doctoral researcher, two doctoral student and the project coordinator) based at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. The core team will work closely with a number of collaborators based in the UK, Kenya and internationally, and the project will have a strong base in Kenya, where much of the research will be carried out.

The studentship will provide a stipend covering maintenance and fee costs at the current Home Rate, plus 6-12 months discretionary additional maintenance for finalising the dissertation. Immigration health surcharge and visa fees in the event a successful candidate is a non-UK citizen, plus fieldwork costs and selected conference attendance, as well as maintenance payments for the duration of parental leave are all additionally covered. Non-EU students and those from EU countries who do not meet the residency requirements may be eligible for additional support, and to ensure this they must also indicate that they wish like to apply for funding from the Cambridge Trust, and select the relevant schemes they may be eligible for from the drop-down lists. Applicants who meet the residency requirements for Home Rate fees are welcome also to apply for these additional source of funding. We encourage minorities and women to apply, including those coming from Kenya and the
wider East Africa region.

Applications should be submitted for the PhD in Archaeology via the Applicant Portal (https://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/hsarpdarc). In addition to the standard application materials, you must state that you are applying for the LHEAAPS project in your 'Statement of Research Interest' and whether for PhD 1 or PhD 2, and upload a cover letter (no more than two pages) outlining your suitability for this project and what you will bring to the team. Professor Lane should be identified as your preferred supervisor.

Candidates must meet the requirement for a PhD application in archaeology (see details here: https://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/hsarpdarc/requirements), and have (or expect to obtain) a Master's degree in archaeology, archaeological science or a cognate discipline, with specialisation in one or more of the following: Holocene archaeology of sub-Saharan Africa, zooarchaeology, bioarchaeology, archaeological materials sciences. Ideally, applicants will have knowledge of East African Holocene archaeology, and practical field experience in the region. However, we also welcome students with appropriate methodological experience on archaeological materials from other geographical areas, and/or the archaeology of pastoralist economies. In order to conduct the research, applicants will need relevant linguistic skills in Swahili or Maa or demonstrate a willingness to acquire such skills during the course of the PhD.

They must also be willing to participate fieldwork in Kenya and spend extended periods abroad (up to five months at a time) working on data collection and analysis in Kenya.