Takeshi Inomata

Takeshi Inomata is the Regents Professor and a Professor at the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. An archaeologist, Inomata studies Maya civilization, social change, warfare, architecture, and ceramics. He has worked at the Maya sites of Aguateca and Ceibal, Guatemala, and in the Middle Usumacinta region, Tabasco, Mexico. His use of airborne light detection and ranging, known as lidar, and high-precision dating techniques to map and date Maya sites, has changed the way the world looks at ancient Mesoamerica.

Inomata and an international team of colleagues in 2018 discovered the site of Aguada Fénix in Tabasco, Mexico, which was built between 1100 and 700 B.C, centuries before the emergence of Maya dynasties. The site contains the oldest and largest monumental constructions ever found in the Maya area. The discovery has reshaped how researchers view the history of the Maya and the human ability to achieve large projects without hierarchical organization.

Inomata received a B.A. in Archaeology and an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Tokyo, and received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Vanderbilt University.