Eduardo Matos Moctezuma 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, made up of María Paz Battaner Arias, Javier Echeverría Ezponda, Juan Pablo Fusi Aizpurúa, Mauro Guillén Rodríguez, Óscar Loureda Lamas, Araceli Mangas Martín, Manuel Menéndez Menéndez, Jaime Montalvo Correa, Montserrat Moreno Marimón, Jaime Pérez Renovales, Rafael Puyol Antolín and Fernando Vallespín Oña, chaired by Emilio Lamo de Espinosa Michels de Champourcin, and with Marta Elvira Rojo acting as secretary, has decided to grant the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences to Eduardo Matos Moctezuma for his exceptional contribution to our knowledge of pre-Columbian societies and cultures.

Via this decision, the Jury wishes to recognize the Laureate’s extraordinary intellectual rigour in reconstructing the civilizations of Mexico and Mesoamerica, as well as to ensure that this heritage is integrated objectively and free of myth. As a result of the intensity and continuity of research in the field, his work in Tula, Teotihuacan and especially in the Templo Mayor (main temple) of Tenochtitlan constitutes an exemplary milestone in the scientific development of archaeology and a fruitful dialogue with the past, between different cultures and between social and human sciences. Due to his scientific intelligence, capacity for dissemination and social commitment, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma and his work serve as an inspiration for the coming generations of social scientists and citizens society in general.

Oviedo, 18th May 2022