Dr. Jingbo Li studies foodways and the development of complex societies in Neolithic and Bronze Age China, with a particular focus on how diet, alcohol production, and ritual practices shaped political authority and cultural identity. Trained in archaeobotany, residue chemistry, and isotopic analysis, she reconstructs ancient diets and fermentation practices through the study of food vessels, skeletal remains, and microfossils. Her dissertation, Foodways, Politics, and Identity in the Chinese Bronze Age, investigates how food and drink were central to sociopolitical organization and ritual life during the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600–771 BCE).
Her work combines experimental archaeology with cutting-edge scientific methods such as GC/MS, HPLC, and AI-based starch identification models, advancing new approaches for residue studies. Beyond her dissertation, Li is pursuing projects on the cultural and technological history of beer brewing in China, from the Neolithic to the Imperial period, and she is expanding her research to explore dairy production and fermented foods using biomolecular techniques, including ZooMS and ancient DNA.
Through her interdisciplinary approach, Li contributes to broader debates on identity formation, human-environment interaction, and the emergence of complex societies. Her research bridges archaeology and science, offering new insights into how food and drink structured early social worlds.