Archaeologist, Arizona State Univ. Aztecs, Teotihuacan. Ancient & modern cities. Transdisciplinary, materialist, historical, occasionally musical. Kino the dog.
Joined June 2011
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30 Sep 2024
My book is now out in paperback! It is a comparative perspective on early cities, from a social-science perspective (population, economics, politics). I cover both top-down & bottom-up influences on urban life. 29 case studies, and many illustrations. bit.ly/40iU33d
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Michael E. Smith retweeted
Very disappointed to see that @AramHur's latest paper in @koreaobserver has six completely fabricated citations.
Academic integrity matters, people.
A short 🧵
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I’ve spent 40 years in research. I have never seen a threat to science like the new grantmaking rule statnews.com/2026/06/12/omb-… via @statnews
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Very strange; the journal Reviews in Anthropology has now published two (count ‘em, 2) low-quality reviews of Graeber and Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything. They published a superficial review article in 2022, and now they have published a 3-page description of the book (called 1/2
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(called a “book review,” although it does not conform to the guidelines for scholarly book reviews). Wanna know what I think of the book? See my essay, “Early Cities in The Dawn of Everything: Shoddy Scholarship in Support of Pedestrian Conclusions.” doi.org/10.21237/C7clio00572… 2/2
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A book review should do 3 things: Describe the contents of the book; Place the book in context; and Evaluate the arguments/data/presentation. Neither of the two reviews in RIA are adequate on all three of these.
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Michael E. Smith retweeted
University of Arizona Health Sciences — which has housed the colleges of medicine in Tucson and Phoenix, and the colleges of nursing, pharmacy and public health — is being dismantled tucson.com/news/local/educat…
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Michael E. Smith retweeted
Jun 8
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Very nice explication and commentary. These concerns led to my resignation from the American Anthropological Association (decades ago!). Not all anthropology is relativistic and postmodern, but much of,the field is.
Jun 5
NEW: a report from Vanderbilt and WashU just dropped, taking on the "state of scholarship in the humanities and social sciences," a big topic among critics of higher ed.
Read along w/ me 🧵
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I was diagnosed with cancer 10 weeks ago (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma non-Hodgkins, in my abdomen). I have had 3 rounds of chemotherapy at Mayo Clinic. Here I am at the start of treatment (I still had my hair then). A PET scan yesterday shows that the chemo is working; 1/2
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2/2 the cancerous nodes are greatly reduced in size and avidity, any my oncologist is pleased with the progress. Five more rounds to go. Cindy, Kino and various writing projects keep me going. No trips to Mexico or to see the grandkids this summer.
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If there is something strange going on in your body, have a doc check it out. Living for many decades in Mexico, I know about many gastrointestinal issues (my top 3: amoebic dysentery, bacterial infection, and greasy/spice food). But this was not like anything I had experienced.
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Wow, Willian Frej's photo book (Unforgotten: Ancient cities from a distant past) has won another book award!
forewordreviews.com/awards/b…
Email me if you want a pdf of my chapter, "Late Lessons from Early Cities." He is an incredible photographer, and this was a fun project for me
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Michael E. Smith retweeted
Is the "Big Idea" in archaeology being downsized?
With the closure of J. of World Prehistory and length cuts at JAR, publishers are prioritizing volume (and APC fees) over deep research. We lose the space for complex syntheses.
link.springer.com/article/10…
#Archaeology
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Michael E. Smith retweeted
La Sociedad Mexicana de Sociología lamenta profundamente el fallecimiento del Dr. Raúl Pacheco-Vega, profesor del CIDE y FLACSO.
Nuestras más sinceras condolencias a sus familiares, amigos y colegas cercanos.
Descanse en paz
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This paper has my critique of statist models in archaeology (ancient kings controlled society with an iron fist). Also, I combine the economic approach to institutions as rules with the sociological approach tpo institutions as large social structures.
link.springer.com/article/10…
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Nice hike out at Granite Reef this morning. That’s Red Mountain behind Cindy and Kino.
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Has the Annals of the Am. Academy of Political and Social Science stopped publishing? Or are they just 2 years behind?
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