Leonardo Náuhmitl López Luján (born 31 March 1964 in Mexico City) is an archaeologist and one of the leading researchers of pre-Hispanic Central Mexican societies and the history of archaeology in Mexico. He is director of the Templo Mayor Project in Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) since 1991 and son of renowned historian Alfredo López Austin.López Luján, Leonardo, About Leonardo, Mesoweb, Ancient Cultures Institute. He is fellow of El Colegio Nacional, the British Academy, the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Archaeological Institute of America, and the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris.
Education and professional life López Luján received his bachelor's degree in archaeology from Mexico's National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH), which he attended from 1983 to 1987 as a student of Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, who directed his thesis on the Offerings of the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan (1990).López Luján, Leonardo, Las ofrendas del Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan, tesis de licenciatura en arqueología, ENAH, 1990. In 1992 he pursued doctoral studies at the Paris Nanterre University as a student of Jean-Claude Gardin, Michel Graulich, and Alain Schnapp. His dissertation, "Anthropologie religieuse du Templo Mayor, Mexico: La Maison des Aigles" (The Religious Anthropology of the Templo Mayor, Mexico: The House of Eagles), presented in 1998 under the direction of Pierre Becquelin and Michel Graulich, obtained the highest honors.López Luján, Leonardo, Anthropologie religieuse du Templo Mayor, Mexico: la Maison des Aigles, Thèse de doctorat, Université de Paris Nanterre, 1998.
During his academic career he has been a visiting research fellow at Princeton University (1995), the Musée de l'Homme in Paris (2002), Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks (2005-2006), and the Institut d'Études Avancées from Paris (2013-2014), and a visiting professor at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (2000), the University of Rome–La Sapienza (2004 and 2016), the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris (2011), and Francisco Marroquín University in Guatemala (2011).
In INAH, he has been a full-time research professor at the Templo Mayor Museum since 1988 and part-time teaching professor at the National School of Conservation, Restoration, and Museography (ENCRYM) since 2000.
He was president of the Mexican Society of Anthropology from 2003 to 2005 and has been a member of the administration council of the Société des Américanistes since 1999. He is currently a Level III Researcher in Mexico's National System of Researchers (SNI) and member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, and the Mexican Academy of History.
In recent times López Luján has been elected as an international fellow of the British Academy (FBA), as an honorary fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (Hon FSA), as a foreign corresponding fellow of the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid, as an honorary international fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, as a corresponding member of the Archaeological Institute of America, and as a foreign corresponding fellow of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris, recognizing his contributions to the field of Mesoamerican research.
On November 5, 2018, López Luján was elected new member of El Colegio Nacional (The National College), a Mexican honorary academy that brings together the country's forty foremost artists and scientists.
In 2025 López Luján was awarded the 2024 National Prize for Arts and Sciences in the History, Social Sciences, and Philosophy category, the highest distinction awarded by the Mexican federal government.
Research, fieldwork and museum exhibitions His research has focused primarily on the religion, politics, and art of pre-Hispanic societies in Central Mexico. His scholarship has contributed to our knowledge of indigenous strategies of recovering the distant past, the coded language of buried offerings, the conceptualization of animals as cosmic emblems, the functions and symbolism of sacred architecture, the uses and meanings of Mexica sculpture, the application of materials science to the study of pre-Hispanic art and artifacts, iconoclastic activities in times of crisis, mother goddess cults, and sacrificial practices, among other areas. He has also ventured into the history of Mexican archaeology, achieving significant advances in the study of its origins in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
López Luján began working in archeological, anthropological, and historical projects when he was eight years old. He has participated in various scientific teams in the Mexican federal entities of Campeche, Chiapas, Distrito Federal, Guanajuato, Estado de México, Morelos, and Quintana Roo, and in Ecuador.
The year 1980 was especially significant in his career, for he began working at INAH's Templo Mayor Project in the first (1978–1982) and second (1987) seasons of excavations in Tenochtitlan's sacred precinct under the direction of Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. Eleven years later, in 1991, he became the director of the project and currently occupies this position. In this way, he has led the fourth (1991–1992), fifth (1994–1997), sixth (2004–2006), seventh (2007–2014), eighth (2014–2018), ninth (2018-2024), and tenth (2024-2030) archaeological field seasons.
As part of his research at the archaeological site of Teotihuacan, he co-directed with William L. Fash and Linda Manzanilla the Xalla Palace excavation project and also worked with Saburo Sugiyama and Rubén Cabrera on the Pyramid of the Moon Project.
His own projects have been funded by INAH, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Texas at Austin, Princeton University, and Harvard University.
With renowned colleagues he has curated major exhibitions, including "The Aztec World" at the Field Museum in Chicago, "Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler" at the British Museum in London, "El capitán Dupaix y su álbum arqueológico de 1794" (Captain Dupaix and his 1794 archaeological album) at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City,Exhiben álbum de Dupaix, testimonio de los orígenes de la arqueología mexicana as well as "Camino al Mictlan" (The Way to the Land of the Dead), "La Casa de las Águilas" (The House of Eagles), "Sacrificios de consagración en la Pirámide de la Luna" (Consecration Sacrifices at the Pyramid of the Moon), "Humo aromático para los dioses" (Aromatic Smoke for the Gods), and "Nuestra sangre, nuestro color: la escultura polícroma de Tenochtitlan (Our Blood, Our Color: Tenochtitlan's polychromed sculpture) at the Templo Mayor Museum. More recently he curated two major exhibitions in Japan and France: "Ancient Mexico" at the Tokyo National Museum with Saburo Sugiyama and Takeshi Inomata (2023-2024) and "Mexica: Des dons et des dieux au Templo Mayor" at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris with Fabienne de Pierrebourg and Steve Bourget (2024).
Awards and fellowships As an individual or leader of interdisciplinary teams The "Diario de México/CONACYT Medal" for best student in Mexico (1991). "Eugene M. Kayden Humanities Book Award" from the University of Colorado at Boulder (1991). The "Mexican Committee of Historical Sciences Prize" for best article (1992, 1996, and 2007). "Choice Outstanding Academic Book" (1994). The "Alfonso Caso Award" from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (1998 and 2016, and honorable mention in 1991). "Social Sciences Research Award" from the Mexican Academy of Sciences (2000). "Keynote Address at Convocation" at the 2009 Annual Conference of the College Art Association (the only Latin American to receive this distinction in the association's history). "Shanghai Archaeology Forum Research Award 2015", Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (his Great Temple Project is considered one of the ten best archaeological programs of the world in 2013–2015). "Medal of Merit", Festival del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México (2016). "Top 10 Discoveries of the Year" of Archaeology Magazine, Archaeological Institute of America (2017,Great Temple Project discovers an Aztec Wolf 2022,Great Temple Project discovers Aztec wooden artifacts and 2023).Great Temple Project discovers a rich offering inside a stone coffin "Medal Fray Bernardino de Sahagún", Consejo Hidalguense de la Crónica and Gobierno del Estado de Hidalgo (2019).Medalla Sahagún del GEH "Crónica Award" in the field of culture (2019).Premio Crónica 2019 "Cátedra Latinoamericana Julio Cortázar", University of Guadalajara (2023).Cátedra Latinoamericana "Julio Cortázar" The "Antonio García Cubas Scientific Book Award" from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (2023 and 2025). "Medal 7 de Julio", Congreso Nacional de Patrimonio Mundial (2023).Awards of CNPM-Guanajuato "Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy", University of Copenhagen (2023).Doctorado Honoris Causa 2023 en Dinamarca "Chevallier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur", Republic of France (2024). "National Prize for Arts and Literature in the History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences category", Government of Mexico (2024). "Caniem Award for Editorial Art in the Scientific and Technical Books Category", Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial Mexicana (2025). "Premio Miguel Covarrubias-Beatriz Barba Ahuatzin" from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (2025, and honorable mention in 2024). "Prix Raymond et Yvonne Lantier", Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Paris (2025). "The Tlamatini Award", The Art History Society and California State University, Los Angeles (2026).
As an integrant of interdisciplinary teams "Best Reference Source", Library Journal (2001). "Editor's Choice", Booklist (2001). "Best Reference", New York Public Library (2001). "Outstanding Academic Title", Choice: Current Reviews of Academic Books (2001 and 2017). "1er Prix International du Livre d'Art Tribal", Tribal Art Magazine (2009). "Shanghai Archaeology Forum Field Discovery Award 2013" (Moon Pyramid Project, Teotihuacan), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (2013). "Annual Book Award", Association for Latin American Art (2014). "Premio Nacional de las Artes Gráficas", Unión de Empresarios de la Comunicación Gráfica (2016). "Prix Spécial du Jury", 6e Festival International du Livre d'Art et du Film de Perpignan (2016). "PROSE Award, Art Exhibitions Category", Association of American Publishers (2018). "The Best of Art of 2017", The New York Times (2017). "The Best of 2017", Hyperallergic (2017). "The Best of 2018", The Washington Post (2018). "AAMC Award for Excellence, Catalogue Award", The Association of Art Museum Curators (2018). "Bank Note of the Year (2021) Award", International Bank Note Society (2022). "ERC Advanced Grant", European Research Council (2024-2029).
Fellowships and named lectures The "Salvador Novo Fellowship" from the College of Mexico and the Mexican Writers Center (1985). The "Guggenheim Fellowship" from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2000). "Dumbarton Oaks Research Fellowship", Harvard University (2005–2006). "Senior Fellow", Pre-Columbian Studies, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University (2012–2014). "Research Fellowship", Institute for Advanced Studies of Paris (2013–2014). Distinguished Lectures at Cambridge, Copenhagen, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Stanford, Berkeley, Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Wellesley College, Dumbarton Oaks, the British Museum, the Musée du quai Branly, the Tokyo National Museum, the De Young Museum, the San Antonio Museum of Art, The Library of Congress, the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, the Shanghai Archaeology Forum, the Gran Teatro Nacional del Perú, as well as the Casa de América, the Fundación Juan March, and the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid.
Published works Books and essays (author)