Claire Smith

Claire Smith (born 15 July 1957) is an Australian archaeologist. She is a Professor with the Department of Archaeology at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. She served two terms as President of the World Archaeological Congress, from 2003-2008 and from 2008-2014.

She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with First-Class Honours in Archaeology and University Medal from the University of New England in 1990, and a PhD on the "social and material context in an Australian Aboriginal artistic system" from the same university in 1996. After that she held an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Professor Smith specialises in Indigenous archaeology, especially rock art. She works with her anthropologist husband, Gary Jackson. They have conducted long-term fieldwork with Aboriginal people in the Barunga region, Northern Territory, and with the Ngadjuri in South Australia. Smith is politically active within Australia, especially in terms of Indigenous rights.