ELIZABETH BELL

EDUCATION INFO:
BA Anthropology, Syracuse University - 2006
MA Anthropology, University of South Carolina-Columbia - 2009

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION:
Biological anthropology
Bioarchaeology
Archaeology

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Social organization and diet, paleopathology, osteology, diet and nutrition, social perception and economic effects of disease, forensic anthropology

MA THESIS COMMITEE:
Dr. Laura Cahue (Chair)
Dr. Charles Cobb
Dr. Thomas Leatherman

THESIS TITLE:
“Maize Consumption in Pre-Tarascan Michoacán: Dental Caries in Two Classic Period Sites in Guayangareo Valley”

THESIS ABSTRACT:
In this thesis I will assess maize consumption in Pre-Tarascan peripheral populations from the Guayangareo Valley with populations in what became the Tarascan heartland in the Lake Patzcuaro Basin in modern day Michoacán, Mexico. Prior research indicates that maize consumption in elites in the Lake Patzcuaro Basin did not change from Pre-Tarascan to Tarascan periods based on dental caries frequencies and stable isotope analysis. I compare the Pre-Tarascan component of the Lake Patzcuaro Basin to Pre-Tarascan a population sample from Guayangareo Valley composed of individuals form Lomas de Santa Maria and Lomas del Valle. Dental caries indices were used to assess diet. This research suggests similar maize consumption in two geographical locations that were incorporated into different facets of the Tarascan State, indicating that the proportion of maize in the diet did not vary based on geographic location prior to the establishment of the Tarascan State in Lake Patzcuaro Basin and the incorporation of surrounding populations.

AWARDS:
2008 – Walker Institute of International and Area Studies (WIIAS) international Experience Award

PAPERS/POSTERS PRESENTED :
“Skeletal Remains from St. Mary’s Chapel Cemetery, Hagley Plantation, Pawleys Island, South Carolina” (with WD Stevens)- Paleopathology Conference, 2009
“Preliminary Analysis of Partial Human Remains from Elmina, Ghana” - AAA, 2006

CONFERENCES ATTENDED:
SCASC 2009
AAA 2009
The Social Archaeology of Southeastern Colonial Frontiers 2008
SCASC 2008
SEAC 2008
SHA 2007
MAAC 2007
AAA 2006

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:
American Anthropological Society
Paleopathology Association

E-MAIL:
bell.elizabeth@gmail.com