Current position: Instructor for Introduction to Biological Anthropology

Current affiliation: University of Georgia

Research website: Link

Research description: My research documents and interprets early life stress, diet, weaning practices, and mortality risk in the context of early colonial interactions and sustained Spanish missionization in the Americas during the 16th and 17th centuries. Currently, my focus is on St. Catherines Island, GA, where a recently discovered cemetery offers a palimpsest of indigenous life at the earliest point of Spanish contact, predating the well-studied 17th century Mission Santa Catalina de Guale. I utilize enamel micro-defects as indicators of childhood stress and predictors of mortality, and incremental isotope and trace elemental analysis to reconstruct dietary and weaning patterns. My research shows that indigenous individuals experienced significant childhood stress and increased mortality risk in the context of Spain’s oppressive colonial system in the Americas; however, these outcomes were variable as the result of persistent systems of social hierarchy and individualized practices, such as dietary and weaning behaviors.