Teotihuacan Research Laboratory

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ASU archaeologists host community-focused exhibit, event in Apaxco, Mexico

March 2, 2026

Engaging with local communities in meaningful ways is a core aspect of anthropology, but it's not something that archaeologists are always trained to do.

In a recent temporary museum exhibit in Apaxco, Mexico, researchers from Arizona State University demonstrated how engagement with local communities is a critical and essential part of archaeological research.

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Deep history of democracy: Study reveals origins of self-governance go beyond Greece, Rome

March 18, 2026

The origin story of democracy is being rewritten, thanks to a new study on ancient societies. Looking at evidence from 31 ancient societies around the globe — including Europe, Asia and the Americas — researchers uncovered evidence of a deep, global history of shared governance.

Working through their data, the team found that Maya societies like Tikal or Copán scored more like an autocracy, while the Teotihuacan scored more as collective governance.

Happy mistake: Computer error brings ASU Online, on-campus students together to break new ground in research

March 7, 2025

Every Thursday, a large group of students gathers in the Teotihuacan Research Laboratory (TeoLab) in the basement of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change building on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus.

Despite the sterile connotations of laboratories, the TeoLab is brightly lit, covered in colorful posters and filled with energy as the students gather to discuss updates about their Research Apprenticeship Program. On a large computer screen, additional ASU Online students join the meeting via Zoom.

What happened to the city of Teotihuacan?

July 15, 2022

In A.D. 400 the city of Teotihuacan, located about 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, was a thriving metropolis, the biggest city in the Western Hemisphere and so influential that the Maya wanted to be, as one previous ASU News article recounted, “Teotihuacan hipsters.”

By A.D. 750, the city had ceased to exist. What happened?

Digging into ASU history at Teotihuacan

January 8, 2019

The work of ASU archaeologists has been in the spotlight thanks to the Phoenix Art Museum’s current exhibition "Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire" and its related programming.

Unlocking the magic of the 'dry Atlantis'

January 19, 2018

Have you ever felt a deep, instant bond with a city? A place where the people, culture and even the architecture all seem to whisper, “This is where you belong”?

Arizona State University’s Michael Smith experienced this feeling as a student in the '70s — but for a city that had sat unoccupied for more than 1,000 years.

“Teotihuacan was my ‘first love’ in archaeology,” he said.

A champion for the past and future of Teotihuacan

October 23, 2018

Over decades, Cowgill proved himself an invaluable ally and friend of Teotihuacan with regards to the global scientific community, the Mexican government and peoples — who allowed him and other researchers access to their history, resources and communities — and countless students, supporters and members of the public, whose interest only grew with each new discovery.

In 2018, this legacy continued with a posthumous $1 million donation to ASU made by his family to help honor this lifelong commitment and create further opportunities for worldwide scientific and cultural access and appreciation of the site.

ASU lab digs deep into ancient city's past

August 26, 2016

The Teotihuacan Research Laboratory is the only foreign archaeological research lab on site at this famous city. For the past 30 years, scholars from all over the world have come here to study the government, economics and daily life of Teotihuacan society.

Taming Teo's teeming storeroom

August 30, 2016

Step into the storerooms of the Teotihuacan Research Laboratory and the first thing you will think
of is the government warehouse at the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Shelves rise to the ceiling.
Row upon row of cardboard and wooden boxes disappear into the gloom. It looks endless.

A university lab for all

August 29, 2016

It’s 7:30 a.m., and about eight archaeologists from six universities are loading up instruments,
backpacks, surveying instruments, water jugs, buckets and tripods into a big gray van. “We start
early,” says one of the student archaeologists, “and we finish late.”

A secret tunnel may help solve mysteries of Teotihuacan

June 2016

In the fall of 2003, a heavy rainstorm swept through the ruins of Teotihuacán, the pyramid-studded,
pre-Aztec metropolis 30 miles northeast of present-day Mexico City. Dig sites sloshed over with water;
a torrent of mud and debris coursed past rows of souvenir stands at the main entrance. The grounds
of the city’s central courtyard buckled and broke