Liye Xie 谢礼晔
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Mississauga
Graduate Faculty Member, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto (tri-campus)
Full CV
I received my Master’s degree from the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (IACASS) in 2005, and worked in IACASS from 2005 to 2007. I joined UTM as Assistant Professor upon receiving my Ph.D. from The University of Arizona in 2014.
My research focuses on the co-construction of technology and society with specialties in preindustrial technologies of bone, stone, and earthen construction. I employ a broad range of theory and research strategies in order to explain technological choices, origins and intensification of agriculture, urbanization, and social transformation during the Neolithic period and Early Bronze Age in various regions in China.
As a problem-oriented, interdisciplinary researcher and an anthropological archaeologist with a background in China's historically-oriented approach to archaeology, my research proceeds in several related directions.
- Interpretations of manufacturing techniques and functions of prehistoric bone and stone tools (2005 – present).
- Prehistoric technological choices within and across raw materials (2009 – present).
- Architecture energetics: a methodology that quantifies architectures in terms of labour-day cost to serve as the analytical basis for comparing labour management systems among past societies (2009 – present).
- Population movement, urban construction, and sociopolitical transformation during the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age (2017 – present).
- Cultural transmission and technological traditions in preindustrial societies (2014 – present).
- Global research on human history: the Seshat Global History Databank (2015 – present).
To learn more about my academic path and research plans, please check https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/vp-research/research-campus/researcher-profiles/anthropology/liye-xie