Teotihuacan Research Laboratory

Welcome

The ASU-managed facility at Teotihuacan provides a space for teams of students and researchers to study one of the largest cities in the ancient world. Unlike many archaeological sites, Teotihuacan is not buried deep under modern settlements; this gives us a unique opportunity to perform excavations and explore the lives of its residents. We recognize the importance of the past for the outcome of the future and use our discoveries to study topics relevant to modern societies, such as alternative governmental systems; how cities rise and fall; and the ways that religious and economic practices change over time.

Featured Publication

At Home with the Aztecs cover

At Home with the Aztecs

by Michael E. Smith, Professor of archaeology

Winner of the Society of American Archaeology's 2017 Popular Book Award.

Spotlight 

Teotihuacan temple

ASU lab digs deep into ancient city's past

Listen In

Professor Michael Smith

Hear Teotihuacan Research Laboratory director, Michael Smith, talk about ongoing research and how knowledge of ancient cities can contribute to our understanding of modern cities on an interview with KJZZ's "The Show."

Congratulations! SHESC Research Professor Saburo Sugiyama has been awarded the esteemed H.B. Nicholson Award for Excellence in Mesoamerican Studies from Harvard University. The award is based on his many years of excavation at Teotihuacan.

Teotihuacan is an important case study for a current research project on neighborhood access to urban services in past societies. A SHESC team is comparing archaeological and historical cities, and George Cowgill helped us use Teotihuacan as one of our main examples.

Take a virtual tour.

Want to take a field trip to Teotihuacan? No plane ticket needed here. Go on a virtual tour of the city, courtesy of ASU! You'll see artifacts and architecture up close, watch exclusive interviews from real archaeologists, and even perform virtual laboratory experiments.

See the author interview.

Watch Professor Michael Smith discuss his new book, "At Home with the Aztecs: An Archaeologist Uncovers Their Daily Life," on Arizona Horizon PBS.

Researcher profile: David Walton

What is it like to do research at the Teotihuacan Laboratory? See how this PhD candidate from another prestigious university spent the summer analyzing stone tool collections from excavations at six different archaeological sites in central Mexico.

Support The Lab

Join the adventure and help ensure that we can continue to examine and preserve Teotihuacan's past at our laboratory facility.

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