-- Wide Urban World blog
-- Publishing Archaeology Blog
-- Calixtlahuacca Archaeological Project Blog
-- "Urban Organization Through the Ages" (project)
I am an archaeologist specializing in the Aztecs of central Mexico. My professional title is Professor of Anthropology in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (formerly the Department of Anthropology) at Arizona State University. My other affiliations are: Affiliated Faculty in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (ASU); Core Faculty, Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity (ASU); and Investigador External, El Colegio Mexiquense (Toluca, Mexico). I have directed fieldwork projects at Aztec sites in the Mexican state of Morelos and in the Toluca Valley.
My research focuses on two broad areas: Aztec social and economic organization, and the comparative analysis of ancient urban societies. My theoretical and comparative interests derive from a scientific, materialist, political-economy approach to ancient state societies. I have published on topics of urbanism, imperialism, households, and economic organization. Currently, my students and I are working on artifacts excavated from Calixtlahuaca (NSF support), and I am working on a transdisciplinary urbanism project (with NSF support). I am also working on questions of resilience and prosperity in Aztec rural households, and the application of new models and methods to the study of ancient social ilnequality.I see archaeology as a comparative and historical social science whose unique datasets (e.g., change over long periods, and access information on distinctive ancient societies) can and should inform broader research in the social sciences.
No, I am NOT the interior decorator of the Obama White House (nor am I the jockey who won the Kentucky Derby in 2005)
List of publications & downloads
Links: ASU: School of Human Evolution and
Social Change ||
Django Reinhardt video
Talking cat
New Dutch cell phone
Bronze Age orientation day
Email: mesmith9@asu.edu.
School of Human Evolution and Social Change / P.O. Box 872402 / Arizona
State University / Tempe, AZ 85287
tel: 480-727-9520 || fax: 480-965-7671