Li Liu

Biography

Li Liu received a BA degree in History (Archaeology) from Northwest University in Xi’an, China, in 1982, and then worked as a researcher in Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology for nearly two years before going to the United States for graduate study in 1983. She received an MA degree in Anthropology from Temple University in 1987, and a PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University in 1994. After teaching at Tufts University and Johns Hopkins University and conducting research as a Postdoctoral Fellow supported by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for 2 years, she began employment at La Trobe University in 1996, teaching East Asian archaeology and Chinese archaeology, among other subjects. She is currently conducting two Australian Research Council Discovery projects in China. One is to investigate the developmental trajectories from early Neolithic to early dynasties in the Yellow River region (Settlement Patterns, Craft Production, and the Rise of Early States in China). The second project is to study the origins of domesticated buffalo and extinction of wild buffalo in China (The origins of Asian domestic buffalo and its role in the development of agricultural technology).