Expertise

Mortuary Archaeology; Landscape Archaeology; Bioarchaeology; Geospatial Analyses; GIS; GPS; Quantitative Methods; Growth and Development; Arabia

Biography

I am a bioarchaeologist whose current research is focused on mortuary and landscape archaeology in Southeastern Arabia. By graduate training I am bioarchaeologist, and my scholarship rests at the intersection of the fields of field archaeology and skeletal biology. My post-doctoral training in genetic epidemiology of growth and development was useful to extend my understanding of human variation to both modern and archaeological populations.

My current and future work focuses on questions about prehistoric mortuary ritual, funerary landscape formation and use, interred material culture, and archaeological human skeletal remains all recovered through survey and excavation. I lead ongoing work in Dhank, Oman (Social, Spatial, and Bioarchaeological Histories of Ancient Oman), which focuses on Bronze Age mortuary practices south of the Hajar Mountains. This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and Center for Humanities at Temple University (CHAT). In 2015-2016 this work was also supported by the Fulbright Scholar Program, which allowed me time for intensive survey and excavation, material culture and skeletal biology analyses, and teaching experience at the Department of Archaeology, Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman. This experience also led to long-term collaboration with archaeologists at SQU and our work at the site of Dahwa in northern Oman, close to the coast and seaports at Saham and Sohar, north of the Hajar Mountains.

Research Gate Profile

Selected Publications

• Williams KD. 2023. Landscapes of Death: Early Bronze Age Tombs and Mortuary Rituals on the Oman Peninsula. Archaeopress Publishing and Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman.
• Al-Jahwari NS, Douglas K, Williams KD. 2022. Dahwa 1 (DH1): Umm an-Nar settlement in Al-Batinah, Northeast Oman. Near Eastern Archaeology.59:83-126.
• Williams KD, Al-Jahwari NS, Douglas K. 2021. Preliminary Analyses of the Bronze Age and Post-Bronze Age Mortuary Monuments at the Dahwa sites, North Batinah Coast, Sultanate of Oman. East and West. 61(2):27-42. 
• Douglas K, Al-Jahwari NS, Mery S, Hesein M, Williams KD. 2021. Umm an-Nar settlement pottery from Dahwa 7 (DH7), northern Al-Batinah, Oman. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 32(S1): 198-212. 
• Williams KD, Gregoricka LA. 2020. New Evidence of Prehistoric Tomb Diversity in Dhank, Oman. Journal of Oman Studies. 21:102-127.
• McCorriston J, Harrower M, Steimer-Herbet T, Williams KD, Everhart J. 2020. Survey and Excavation of Small Scale Monuments in Hadramawt, Yemen. In: McCorrison J, and M Harrower, editors. Landscape History of Hadramawt: The Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia (RASA) Project 1995-2008. Monumenta Archaeologica Series 43, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press: Los Angeles. pp 407-451. 
• Al-Jahwari N., Douglas K, Al-Belushi M., Williams KD. 2018. Umm an-Nar Settlement at Dahwa (DH1), Oman: Preliminary Results of the Archaeological Investigation, 2014-2016. Proceedings of the conference: Beyond tombs and towers – domestic architecture of the Umm an-Nar period in Eastern Arabia, Harrassowitz Verlag: Wiesbaden, pp. 29-50.
• Williams KD, Meinzer N, Larsen CS. 2019. History of Degenerative Joint Disease in people across Europe – Bioarchaeological Inferences about Lifestyle and Activity from Osteoarthritis and Vertebral Osteophytosis. In: Steckel R, Larsen CS, Roberts C, and Baten J, editors. The Backbone of Europe: Health, Diet, Work and Violence over Two Millennia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp. 253-299
• Papathanasiou A, Meinzer N, Williams KD, Larsen CS. 2019. History of anemia and related nutritional deficiencies: evidence from cranial porosities. In: Steckel R, Larsen CS, Roberts C, and Baten J, editors. The Backbone of Europe: Health, Diet, Work and Violence over Two Millennia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp.198-230
• Williams KD and LA Gregoricka. 2016. Appendix: Wadi Suq Tomb Excavation. In: Thornton, C. P., Cable, C. M. & Possehl, G. L., eds. The Bronze Age Towers at Bat, Sultanate of Oman: Research by the Bat Archaeological Project, 2007-2012. University of Pennsylvania Museum Monograph. Muscat: Ministry of Heritage and Culture.
• Williams KD, Subedi J, Jha B, Blangero J, Williams-Blangero S, Towne B. 2016. Quantitative Physical Activity of Children and Adolescents in a Rural Population from Eastern Nepal. American Journal of Human Biology. PMID: 26179444 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22762
• Williams KD, Blangero J, Mahaney MC, Subedi J, Jha B, Williams-Blangero S, Towne B. 2015. Axial Quantitative Ultrasound Assessment of Pediatric Bone Quality in Eastern Nepal. Osteoporosis International. PMID: 25862355 DOI: 10.1007/s00198-015-3115-0
• Williams KD, Steimer-Herbet T, Gregoricka L, Saliege J-F, McCorriston J. 2014. Bioarchaeological Analyses of 3rd Millennium BC High Circular Tower Tombs in Dhofar, Oman. Journal of Oman Studies. 18: 153-173.
• McCorriston J, Harrower M, Steimer-Herbet T, Williams KD, Senn M, Al-Hadhari M, Al-Kathiri M, Saliege J-F, Everhart J. 2014. Monuments and Landscape of Mobile Pastoralists: the Dhofar Monument Survey 2009-2011. Journal of Oman Studies. 18:117-144.
• Williams KD and Gregoricka L. 2013. Social, Spatial, and Bioarchaeological Histories of Ancient Oman: Mortuary Archaeology of Dhank, Oman 2009-2013. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 24:134-150.
• Williams KD, Nahhas RW, Cottom CR, Lawrence S, Subedi J, Jha B, Blangero J, Williams-Blangero S, Towne B. 2012. Evaluation of Qualitative Methods for Phenotyping Brachymesophalangia – V from Radiographs of Children. American Journal of Human Biology. 24(1):68-73.
• McCorriston J, Steimer-Herbet T, Harrower M, Williams KD, Saliege J.-F, Bin ‘Aqil A. 2011. Gazetteer of Small Scale Monuments in Prehistoric Hadramawt, Yemen: a radiocarbon chronology from RASA AHSD Project research 1996-2008. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 22:1-22.
• Williams KD, El-Najjar MY, Rose JC, Al-Koufahi H, King MJ, Al-Awad F. 2004. Skeletal Biology. In: Sa’ad: A Late Roman/Byzantine Site in North Jordan, edited by Jerome C. Rose and Dolores L Burke. Yarmouk University Publications, Deanship of Research and Graduate Research, pp.149-180.
• Rose JC, El-Najjar MY, Williams KD, Turshan N. 2004. Cemeteries and Contents. In: Sa’ad: A Late Roman/ Byzantine Site in North Jordan, edited by Jerome C. Rose and Dolores L Burke. Yarmouk University Publications, Deanship of Research and Graduate Research, pp.43-98.

Courses Taught

• ANTH 2705 Fundamentals of Biological Anthropology
• ANTH 2763 Human Population Genetics
• ANTH 3747 Human Growth and Development  
• ANTH 3770 Methods in Biological Anthropology (Archaeology of Death)
• ANTH 3771 Quantitative Methods in Anthropology
• ANTH 4796 Biocultural Adaptation
• ANTH 4897 Research in Biological Anthropology
• ARCH 4220 Omani Culture Through the Ages (Sultan Qaboos University)
• ARCH 4730 Ethnoarchaeology (Sultan Qaboos University)
• ARCH 6130 Environmental Archaeology (Sultan Qaboos University)
• ARCH 6050 Archaeological Terminology in English Report Writing (Sultan Qaboos University)