Arizona State University

Faculty Member, School of Human Evolution and Social Change

Professor of Anthropology

About

I am an archaeologist specializing in Mesoamerica and the Aztecs, with an interest in comparative preindustrial urbanism. My fieldwork focuses on excavations of commoner houses in order to reconstruct changing economic, social and political dynamics at the household level. My research and publishing focus on archaeological and comparative approaches to urban dynamics, social stratification, forms of government, and economic processes. I also work on methods of comparing and combining archaeological and historical data.

I approach scholarship with a scientific realist epistemology, and my theoretical orientation is a materialist interpretation of political economy. I have little use for interpretivist, postmodern, or postprocessual ideas.

Recently, I have become interested in comparisons between ancient and modern cities, particularly with respect to housing, urban life, and city form and planning. Study of modern cases of, say shantytowns, can help archaeologists interpret ancient urban housing, and archaeological cases can provide historical time depth and comparative insights into modern urban settlements.

For my new blog, WIDE URBAN WORLD:
http://wideurbanworld.blogspot.com/

For my blog, PUBLISHING ARCHAEOLOGY:
http://publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com/

For my blog, CALIXTLAHUACA ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT:
http://calixtlahuaca.blogspot.com/

For downloads of my papers, see:
http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/Publications.html

For a transdisciplinary research project, "Urban Organization Through the Ages: Neighborhoods, Open Spaces, and Urban Life," see:
http://cities.asu.edu/

For other things, see my home page:
http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/

For a list of some of the books by Michael Smith that I did NOT write, see:
http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/mesmitih9@asu.edu/lists/86163

For Trout Mask Replica, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trout_Mask_Replica

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