Mesoamerica

ASU has an active program of fieldwork and publication in Mesoamerican archaeology, with projects by faculty and graduate students in central Mexico, the Gulf Coast, Northwest Mexico and the Maya area. One of our greatest strengths is the study of Mesoamerican cities and urbanism. ASU owns and administers the Teotihuacan Research Center in San Juan Teotihuacan, Mexico, and our program has been at the forefront of Teotihuacan studies for more than a decade. Ancient settlement patterns and political economies are prominent subjects in faculty research. All Mesoamerican faculty have strong professional ties to colleagues and institutions in Mexico, facilitating graduate student fieldwork. School of Art professor Emily Umberger—a leading scholar of Aztec sculpture—works closely with Mesoamericanist faculty and students, as does John Chance, a colonial ethnohistorian, and Miguel Aguilera, a Mayanist social anthropologist in the Religious Studies Department.
The School of Human Evolution and Social Change maintains several
labs in Mexico devoted to Mesoamerican archaeology.
 

Key Faculty:

• Jane Buikstra
• John Chance
• George L. Cowgill (emeritus)
• Ben Nelson
• Michael E. Smith
• Barbara L. Stark
• Saburu Sugiyama