David Carballo (PhD UCLA, 2005) is a Mesoamerican archaeologist whose current research focuses on the social changes that accompanied the first cities and states in prehispanic central Mexico, approximately 2000 years ago.  As the Director of the Proyecto Arqueológico La Laguna, he has been investigating household activities, the development of social inequality, and the integrative and divisive aspects of community ritual at a Formative period town in Tlaxcala.  Since the abandonment of La Laguna coincided with urbanization and state expansion in central Mexico, the site provides a more rural perspective on the migration and nucleation into cities during this critical period in the region’s history.

Dr. Carballo is also active in the archaeology of one of these early cities, Teotihuacan, as a collaborator on the Moon Pyramid Project, which has been documenting the construction history and social and religious significances of one of the largest monuments of the ancient Americas.  He is interested in anthropological issues such as cooperation and conflict, social identity, ritual and religion, political evolution, and economic specialization.  He is also interested in archaeological methods involving geographical information systems (GIS), lithic replication and analysis, remote sensing, and geochemistry.

Select publications:

in press  Obsidian and the Teotihuacan State: Weaponry and Ritual Production at the Moon Pyramid.  University of Pittsburgh and INAH, Pittsburgh and Mexico City.

2009  Household and Status in Formative Central Mexico: Domestic Structures, Assemblages, and Practices at La Laguna, Tlaxcala.  Latin American Antiquity 20(3):473-501.

2007  (w/ Thomas Pluckhahn) Transportation Corridors and Political Evolution in Highland Mesoamerica: Settlement Analyses Incorporating GIS for Northern Tlaxcala, Mexico.  Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 26(4):607-629.

2007 Effigy Vessels, Religious Integration, and the Origins of the Central Mexican Pantheon.  Ancient Mesoamerica 18(1):53-67.

2007  Implements of State Power: Weaponry and Martially Themed Obsidian Production near the Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan.  Ancient Mesoamerica 18(1):173-190.

2007 (w/ Jennifer Carballo and Hector Neff) Formative and Classic Period Obsidian Procurement in Central Mexico: A Compositional Study Using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry.  Latin American Antiquity 18(1):27-43.   

View Full CV Here

Contact Dr. Carballo at: dmcarballo@bama.ua.edu
Office: 25-B ten Hoor Hall
Phone: (205) 348-4173