Philip Smith was born in the 'out port' of Fortune on the south coast of Newfoundland in 1927. After schooling there, he attended universities in Canada, France and the United States and obtained a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University in 1962. His first career was in the business world in Montreal. Later he was a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto and until his recent retirement, the University of Montreal. He carried out archaeological excavations throughout prehistoric sites in the United States, Mexico, France, and in several countries in the Middle East, such as, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran. From 1962 to1963 he was the Director of the Canadian Archaeological Mission to Egypt, Nubia sponsored by UNESCO. He has also done research and lectured in India, China, Russia, Japan and various other countries in Europe and Asia. He has written several books and many scholarly and popular articles on anthropological topics. Memorial University of Newfoundland awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1976 and he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1978. He currently resides in Montreal and continues his research in several fields of anthropology and history.