David J Killick

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Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Killick, D. J. (2016). Iron smelting technology in the Middle Senegal Valley, ca. 550 BCE-1500 CE. In The Search for Takrur: Archaeological Excavations and Reconnaissance along the Middle Senegal River Valley, edited by Roderick J. McIntosh, Susan Keech McIntosh and Hamady Bocoum.(pp 191-280). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
• Killick, D. J., & Fenn, T. (2016). Copper Alloys. In The Search for Takrur: Archaeological Excavations and Reconnaissance along the Middle Senegal River Valley, edited by Roderick J. McIntosh, Susan Keech McIntosh and Hamady Bocoum.(pp 281-298). New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Killick, D. J. (2015). On the role of the sciences in contemporary archaeology. In Material Evidence: Learning From Archaeological Practice, edited by Alyson Wylie and Robert Chapman(pp 159-171). London: Routledge.
• Martinon-Torres, M., & Killick, D. J. (2015). Archaeological theories and archaeological sciences. In The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Theory(pp 1-28). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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  This is an invited chapter In The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Theory, edited by Andrew Gardner, Mark Lake and Ulrike Sommer. Our chapter is published online in advance of the print publication of the full volume.Marcos Martinon-Torres is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
• Killick, D. J. (2014). Cairo to Cape: the spread of metallurgy through eastern and southern Africa. In Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective: Methods and Syntheses, edited by Ben Roberts and Christopher Thornton.(pp 507-528). New York: Springer.
• Killick, D. J. (2014). From ores to metals. In Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective: Methods and Syntheses, edited by Ben Roberts and Christopher Thornton.(pp 11-46). New York: Springer.
• Killick, D. J. (2014). van der Merwe. Nikolaas J.. In Encyclopaedia of Global Archaeology(pp 7579-7589). New York: Springer.
• Thibodeau, A. M., Chesley, J. T., Ruiz, J., Killick, D. J., & Vokes, A. (2012). An alternative approach to the Prehispanic turquoise trade. In Turquoise in Mexico and North America, edited by J.C.H. King, C.R. Cartright, R. Stacey, C. McEwan and M. Carocci.(pp 63-72). London: British Museum.
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  Full Citation: Thibodeau, A.M., J. T. Chesley, J. Ruiz, D. J. Killick, A. Vokes. (2012) An alternative approach to the Prehispanic turquoise trade. In Turquoise in Mexico and North America, edited by J.C.H King, C.R. Cartwright, R. Stacey, C. McEwan and M. Carocci, pp. 63-72. London: Archetype/British Museum.Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Arthur Vokes is a Collections Manager in the Arizona State Museum;

Journals/Publications

• Chiu, S., Killick, D. J., Dickinson, W. R., & Sand, C. (2016). Connection and competition: some early insights gained from petrographic studies of New Caledonian Lapita pottery. Archaeology in Oceania, 51, 141-149.
• Killick, D. J., Miller, D., Thondhlana, T., & Martinon-Torres, M. (2016). Copper mining and metallurgy in the northern Lowveld, South Africa, ca. 1000 CE - ca. 1880.. Journal of Archaeological Science, 75, 10-26.
• Killick, D. J., Wilmsen, E. N., Griffiths, A., Thebe, P., & Molatlhegi, G. (2016). Moijabana rocks and Pilikwe potters: acceleration of clay formation by potters employing simple mechanical means. Ethnoarchaeology, 8, 137-157.
• Pailes, M., Killick, D. J., Ferguson, T. J., & Mills, B. J. (2016). Diabase temper as a marker for Laguna ceramics. KIVA.
• Bleed, P., Long, L., Long, J., Roberg, M., & Killick, D. J. (2015). Scale armor on the North American frontier. Plains Anthropologist, 60, 199-222.
• Killick, D. (2015). Invention and Innovation in African Iron-smelting Technologies. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 25, 307--319.
• Killick, D. J. (2015). Invention and Innovation in African iron smelting. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 25(1), 307-319.
• Killick, D. J. (2015). The awkward adolescence of archaeological science. Journal of Archaeological Science, 56, 242-247.
• Stephens, J. A., Vandiver, P. B., Hernandez, S. A., & Killick, D. (2015). The Technological Development of Decorated Corinthian Pottery, 8 th to 6 th Centuries BCE. MRS Proceedings, 1656, mrsf13--1656.
• Thibodeau, A. M., Killick, D. J., Hedquist, S. L., Chesley, J. T., & Ruiz, J. (2015). Isotopic evidence for the provenance of turquoise in the southwestern United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 127(11/12), 1617-1631.
• Hayashida, F., Killick, D. J., Shimada, I., Hausler, F. M., Wagner, F. E., & Wagner, U. (2014). A pre-Columbian copper alloy smelting furnace: Mössbauer and XRD study of the firing conditions. Hyperfine Interactions, 224, 161-170.
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  Frances Hayashida is at the University of New Mexico; Izumi Shimada is at Southern Illinois University; W. Hausler and the Wagners are at at the Max-Planck Institute fr Physics, Heidelberg, Germany
• Killick, D. J., & Miller, D. A. (2014). Smelting of magnetite and magnetite-ilmenite ores in the northern Lowveld, South Africa, ca. 1000 CE - ca.1880 CE.. Journal of Archaeological Science, 43, 239-255.
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  Duncan Miller is an independent scholar based in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Molofsky, L. J., Killick, D., Ducea, M. N., Macovei, M., Chesley, J. T., Ruiz, J., Thibodeau, A., & Popescu, G. C. (2014). A novel approach to lead isotope provenance studies of tin and bronze: applications to South African, Botswanan and Romanian artifacts. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 50, 440-450.
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  Lead isotopic ratios of cassiterite, the dominant ore of tin, evolve after crystallization through decay of uranium (U) and thorium (Th) to lead (Pb), due to the relatively elevated U/Pb ratios of this mineral. We show that the Pb isotopic ratios of smelted tin at Rooiberg, South Africa, form an isochron with a model age that matches the known geological age (similar to 2 Ga) of the host granite for the Rooiberg cassiterite deposits. Since the Pb isotopic ratios of many prehistoric tin and bronze artifacts throughout southern Africa also fall on this isochron, we deduce that they were made with tin from either the Rooiberg deposits or similar age deposits that exist nearby. In addition, we show that bronze artifacts from Romania define an isochron corresponding to a Variscan age (similar to 0.3 Ga), suggesting a central or western European tin deposit as its source, since no Variscan tin is known from the neighboring Carpathian Mountains. Implications of this approach for provenance studies of tin and bronzes around the world are examined given various major tin deposits and their age distribution. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
• Killick, D. J., & Holliday, V. (2013). An early PaleoIndian bead from the Mockingbird Gap site , New Mexico. Current Anthropology, 54, 85-95.
• Killick, D. J., & Fenn, T. (2012). Archaeometallurgy: the study of preindustrial mining and metallurgy. Annual Review of Anthropology.
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  Invited review article;Your Role: Wrote most of the review;Full Citation: Killick, D.J. and T.R. Fenn (2012) Archaeometallurgy: the study of preindustrial mining and metallurgy. Annual Review of Anthropology 41:559-575.;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Former graduate advisee, current a post-doctoral fellow in the Archaeologica Sciences Program, Division of Geology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium;
• Killick, D. (2010). Cairo to Cape: The Spread of Metallurgy Through Eastern and Southern Africa. JOURNAL OF WORLD PREHISTORY, 22(4), 399-414.
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  This article traces the beginnings of metallurgy in the eastern half of the African continent, focusing on three regions: (1) Egypt and Nubia; (2) the Great Lakes region of Central and East Africa; and (3) southern Africa. Metallurgy was not practiced much beyond the Nile valley until the first millennium BC, when copper, bronze and iron metallurgy began in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and iron metallurgy in the Great Lakes region. The expansion of agricultural societies carried iron metallurgy south, reaching its southern limit in South Africa by c. 300 cal AD. Copper was also smelted in southern Africa, but its use was restricted to pendants, bracelets, wire and other items of jewelry. In stark contrast to the metallurgical sequence in the Nile Valley, there was no production of tin, lead, gold or silver in central or southern Africa before these regions were linked to the Islamic world system after c. 800 AD.
• Chirikure, S., Heimann, R. B., & Killick, D. (2009). The technology of tin smelting in the Rooiberg Valley, Limpopo Province, South Africa, ca. 1650-1850 CE. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 37(7), 1656-1669.
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  A substantial indigenous tin-smelting industry arose in the Rooiberg valley of northern South Africa in the second millennium CE. This study concentrates upon tin-smelting slags and refractory ceramics from two archaeological sites that date between ca. 1650 CE and ca. 1850 CE. These were studied by optical and electron microscopy, wavelength-dispersive x-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF), inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and electron microprobe (EMPA). The slags are predominantly glassy; high SnO and relatively low SiO(2) contents indicate that tin is a major glass-forming element. Comparison of slag chemistries with the mineralogy of ore deposits and host rocks shows that alluvial cassiterite was used at one of the sites, while cassiterite from hard-rock mining was smelted at the other site. Since few preindustrial tin slags have been studied, we compare our findings to other published examples, mostly from southwest England. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
• Heimann, R. B., Chirikure, S., & Killick, D. (2009). Mineralogical study of precolonial (1650-1850 CE) tin smelting slags from Rooiberg, Limpopo Province, South Africa. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MINERALOGY, 22(5), 751-761.
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  Vitreous slag remains of prehistoric tin smelting activities (1650-1850 CE) excavated at Rooiberg, Limpopo Province, South Africa were analyzed by wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (WD-XRF), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and electron-microprobe analysis (EPMA). The slags were found to contain high concentrations of tin oxide suggesting a low level of metal recovery that resulted in substantial tin losses. In addition, skeletal cassiterite, and complex spinels, as well as tin prills ranging in size from a few to tens of micrometres were observed. The contribution discusses the role tin(II) and (IV) oxides are thought to play during formation of slag as well as the crystal chemistry of spinels precipitated during cooling.
• Wilmsen, E. N., Killick, D., Rosenstein, D. D., Thebe, P. C., & Denbow, J. R. (2008). THE SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY OF POTTERY IN BOTSWANA AS RECONSTRUCTED BY OPTICAL PETROGRAPHY. JOURNAL OF AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY, 7(1), 3-39.
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  Over the last 30 years Wilmsen and Denbow have recovered and studied pottery from 28 sites in Botswana dated between ca cal AD 200 and AD 1885. Some sherds in several of these assemblages appear, on stylistic evidence, to have been made in other sub-regions of Botswana than where they were found. These inferences are confirmed in this paper by use of an independent archaeometric technique, optical petrography. We are able to demonstrate the transport of pots from the Okavango Delta to Bosutswe in the eastern hardveld, some 400-600 km distant, as early as cal AD 900-1100, and of others over equal distances to the Tsodilo Hills probably before that time. We are also able to demonstrate several shorter itineraries at contemporary and later times in the Tsodilo-Delta-Chobe region as well as in the hardveld. Furthermore, we demonstrate that clays were transported from geological deposits to sites where pots were made from them. We consider some implications of these findings for a deeper appreciation of the movement of peoples and goods at several time periods of the past and present as well as further implications for understanding the participation of the region in the Indian Ocean trade during the 8(th)-10(th) centuries.

Proceedings Publications

• Killick, D. J. (2015, March). Archaeometallurgy as archaeology: a keynote lecture.. In Archaeometallurgy in Europe III, Der Anschnitt, 295-300.
• Santarelli, B., Killick, D. J., & Goff, S. (2014, Winter). Technological behavior in the Southwest: Pueblo 1 glaze paints from the upper San Juan region.. In Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, 1656.
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  Chapter published online in advance

Presentations

• Killick, D. J. (2017, Spring). Iron or gold? Comparing the production and uses of metals in the Andes and in sub-Saharan Africa before 1500 CE.. Council on Archaeological Studies at Yale. New Haven, CT: Yale University.
• Killick, D. J. (2016, Spring). Technology and Society: a comparison of metallurgical technology in sub-Saharan Africa and in South America. Frontiers in Archaeology lecture series. Santa Cruz, CA: University of California, Sanata Cruz.
• Thibodeau, A. M., & Killick, D. J. (2016, January). Tracing turquoise in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico: the case for lead and strontium isotopes.. Southwest Symposium. Tucson: Southwest Symposium.
• Chiu, S., Killick, D. J., Dickinson, W. R., & Sand, C. (2015, April). Connection and competition: some insights gained from petrographic studies of New Caledonian Lapita pottery.. 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. San Francisco: Society for American Archaeology.
• Killick, D. J. (2015, October). Tracing the movements of inorganic materials with heavy stable isotopes. Invited presentation, University of Georgia. Athens, GA: Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia.
• Killick, D. J., & Wilmsen, E. N. (2015, April). Tracing the arrival of the earliest pottery producers in northern Botswana.. 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. San Francisco: Society for American Archaeology.
• Fenn, T., Ameje, J., Gronenborn, D., Killick, D. J., & Joaquin, R. (2014, Summer). Archaeometallurgy of metal finds from the medieval “royal” burials of Durbi Takusheyi, northern Nigeria.. PanAfrican Archaeological Association,14th Congress.. Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Fenn, T., Wilmsen, E., Robertshaw, P., Killick, D. J., & Ruiz, J. (2014, Summer). Botswana, South Africa and glass bead trade in the Indian Ocean during the first and second millennia AD.. PanAfrican Archaeological Association,14th Congress.. Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Killick, D. J. (2014, Fall). Learning from Things (Keynote Lecture). Mellon Research Initiative “From Surface to Substrate: the Archaeology, Art History and Science of Materials Transfers”. New York: New York University Institute of Fine Arts.
• Killick, D. J. (2014, Fall). Politics and prehistory: arguments about African metallurgical technologies.. Invited seminar at Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Taipei.
• Killick, D. J., Chiu, S., & Sand, C. (2014, April). New Discovery for sourcing New Caledonian Lapita Pottery Based on Petrographic Studies of 10 Lapita Sites. 79th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Austin, TX.
• Killick, D. J., Chiu, S., Sand, C., & Dickinson, W. R. (2014, May). Paradise for petrographers: tracking movements of Lapita pottery (1200-900 BCE) between New Caledonia, Isle de Pins, the Loyalty Islands and Vanuatu.. 40th International Symposium on Archaeometry. Los Angeles.
• Killick, D. J. (2013, 2013-04-01). Invention and Innovation in African Iron Smelting. Society for American Archaeology, 78th Annual Meeting. Honolulu.
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  ;Submitted: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Killick, D. J., & Echinique, E. (2013, 2013-02-01). Technology and production patterns of domestic fine wares during the Late Formative and Middle Periods in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile: a petrographic and experimental study. Institute of Andean Studies 53rd Annual Meeting. University of California, Berkeley.
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  Poster, presented by Ester Echenique;Your Role: Training, data checking, analysis, design of poster with co-author;Submitted: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
• Killick, D. J., Chiu, S., Sand, C., Glasscock, M., & Sun, Y. (2013, 2013-04-01). Exchange spheres identified by using both chemical composite and petrographic analysis: a case study on six Lapita sites in New Caledonia. Society for American Archaeology, 78th Annual Meeting. Honolulu.
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  ;Your Role: I did all the petrographic analysis for this project;Submitted: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Scarlett Chiu and Yuhchang Sun at at the National University of Taiwan; Michael Glasscock is Director of the Missouri Unuversity Research Reactor; Christophe Sand is Director of the Institute for the Archaeology of New Caledonia and the Pacific, Noumea, New Caledonia;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Killick, D. J., Hayashida, F., Shimada, I., , W. H., Wagner, F., & Wagner, U. (2013, 2013-04-01). A Precolumbian copper smelting furnace: Mossbauer and XRD study of the firing conditions. Society for American Archaeology, 78th Annual Meeting. Honolulu.
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  Frances Hayashida is at the University of New Mexico; Izumi Shimada is at Southern Illinois University; W. Hausler and the Wagners are at at the Max-Planck Institute fr Physics, Heidelberg, Germany.
• Killick, D. J., Santarelli, B., & Goff, S. (2013, 2013-11-01). Technological Behavior in the Southwest: Pueblo I Lead Glaze Paints from the Upper San Juan Region.. Materials Research Society. Boston.
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  ;Submitted: Yes;Refereed: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Dr. Sheila Goff is a staff archaeologist at History Colorado, Denver;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Killick, D. J., Thibodeau, A., Lujan, L. L., & Ruiz, J. (2013, 2013-04-01). Isotopic evidence for the source of turquoise in Mesoamerica. Society for American Archaeology, 78th Annual Meeting. Honolulu.
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  ;Your Role: PI on the NSF grant;Submitted: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Alyson Thibodeau is a former PhD Advisee, now at the University of Toronto. Leonardo Lopez Lujan is a senior archaeologist at associated with the Museo Templo Mayor, Mexico City.;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Killick, D. J. (2012, 2012-10-01). Chemical, physical and technological constraints on iron smelting - or why it took 3000 years to get from copper to iron.. Advanced seminar. Harvard University.
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  Invited paper for an advanced seminar (8 papers/2 days) on the origins of iron in the Old World;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: University;
• Killick, D. J., & Hayashida, D. F. (2012, 2012-05-01). Lung-powered copper smelting of the Sican period (900-1375 CE), north coastal Peru. 39th International Symposium on Archaeometry. Leuven, Belgium.
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  Unable to attend - paper delivered on my behalf;Your Role: I did all the scientific work - Dr. Hayashida excavated the remains;Submitted: Yes;Refereed: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Frances Hayashida is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of new Mexico, Albuquerque;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Killick, D. J., Thibodeau, A. M., Luján, L. L., Chesley, J. T., & Ruiz, J. (2012, 2012-05-01). Using Pb and Sr isotopes to infer the source of turquoise at the Aztec Templo Mayor. 39th International Symposium on Archaeometry. Leuven, Belgium.
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  Alyson Thibodeau was first author and delivered the paper;Your Role: I co-supervised Alyson Thibodeau's dissertation in Geosciences (defended in April 2012) and was PI on the NSF grant that funded her and some of the analyses reported in this paper;Submitted: Yes;Refereed: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Leonardo López Luján is a Mexican archaeologist and one of the directors of excavations at the Aztec Templo Mayor;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;

Poster Presentations

• Killick, D. J., Santarelli, B., & Goff, S. (2014, April). Technological Behavior in the Southwest: Pueblo I Lead Glaze Paints from the Upper San Juan Region. Society for American Archaeology, 79th Annual Meeting. Austin, TX.
• Killick, D. J., Santarelli, B., & Goff, S. (2014, May). Technological Behavior in the Southwest: Pueblo I Lead Glaze Paints from the Upper San Juan Region. 40th International Symposium on Archaeometry. Los Angeles.

Reviews

• Killick, D. J. (2016. A global perspective on the pyrotechnologies of sub-Saharan Africa.(pp 62-87). London.
• Killick, D. (2013. Analytical Chemistry in Archaeology(pp 115-117).
• Killick, D. (2013. Metals and mines: Studies in archeometallurgy(pp 3044-3046).
• Killick, D. J. (2013. Review of Caroline Robion-Brunner and Bruno Martinelli (eds.), Métallurgie du Fer et Sociétés Africaines: Bilans et Nouveaux Paradigmes dans la Recherche Anthropologique et Archéologique.(pp 273-276). Journal of African Archaeology 11(2).
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  Journal of African Archaeology
• Killick, D. J. (2013. Review of Rosemarie Klemm and Dietrich Klemm, Gold and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia.(pp 539-541).
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  Azania vol 48(4)
• Killick, D. (2012. Myth, ritual, and metallurgy in ancient Greece and recent Africa(pp 594-596).
• Killick, D. (2010. Gold and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia(pp 539-541).