Michael E. Smith Home Page

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 known as the Department of Anthropology) at Arizona State University. I have directed fieldwork projects at Aztec sites in the Mexican state of Morelos and in the Toluca Valley, and I have published several books and numerous scholarly articles on this work.

My research focuses on Aztec social and economic organization, and on the comparative analysis of ancient urban societies.. My theoretical and comparative interests derive from a materialist, political-economy approach to ancient state societies. I have published on topics of urbanism, imperialism, households, and economic organization. Current projects include assembly of the final publications on my Morelos excavations, fieldwork at Calixtlahuaca, and work on comparative urbanism.

What's New:
The Anthropology Newsletter botched my submission of a statement on comparative archaeology. This was a joint statement signed by 12 archaeologists, which the newsletter turned into a "letter to the editor" with only my name (thus defeating much of the purpose of the document). You can see the original statement here.

My urban planning paper was awarded The Catherine Bauer Wurster Prize for the “Best Scholarly Article on American Planning History” by the Society for American City and Regional Planning History. "Form and Meaning in the Earliest Cities: A New Approach to Ancient Urban Planning" Its also on a list of "Top Downloaded Articles from SAGE Urban Studies, Geography, and Economics Journals."

Grad study in archaeology at ASU. The SHESC web site is being rennovated, and in the meantime there is information on the graduate program here. For a downloadable pdf flier on the grad program Click Here.

I have two blogs: Calixtlahuaca Archaeological Project ; and: Publishing Archaeology Blog
The Calixtlahuaca Project has an incipient Calixtlahuaca Web Site