Rate My Professor Elizabeth Paris

Dr. Elizabeth Paris is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Calgary. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University at Albany, SUNY (2012), an MA in Anthropology from the same institution (2006), and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Colorado (2004). Her research specializes in Mesoamerican archaeology with a focus on the Maya civilization, examining the archaeology of urbanism, urban commercial networks, the organization of market neighborhoods, and the manipulation of high-value commodities. Dr. Paris investigates how wealth and power were expressed at the community scale through the analysis of materials and economic organization in ancient societies.

She has led or collaborated on projects including the Economic Networks of Tenam Puente Project (2019–present), the Economic Foundations of Highland Chiapas Project (2009–2019), and the Economic Foundations of Mayapan Project (2004–present). Her methodological expertise includes archaeometallurgy, lithic analysis, zooarchaeology, and compositional analysis. Dr. Paris received the Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award from the University at Albany in 2012, a Wenner-Gren International Collaborative Research Grant in 2014, and a National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration Grant in 2014. Key publications include “The Making of a Plaza: Public Spaces and Marketplaces at Tenam Puente” (2021), “The Exchange of Fine Orange Pottery in Early Postclassic period Central Chiapas, Mexico” (2021), and chapters in volumes on Mayapan published by the University of Pittsburgh Press (2019). She contributes to teaching through courses on archaeological methods, Mesoamerican topics, lithic technology, and zooarchaeology.