Dr. Carlina de la Cova
Assistant Professor
cmdelaco@uncg.edu
336-256-1100
Research Interests:
Biological anthropology - paleopathology, skeletal biology, African American biohistory and African American bioarchaeology, nineteenth century historical medicine and disease, primate behavior
My research focuses on the examination of skeletal health disparities in nineteenth century America, with an emphasis on health among African Americans. My approach to understanding disease, malnutrition, and biological stress is multidisciplinary, incorporating historical, medical, cultural, and biological methodologies. As a biological anthropologist, most of my work has relied on skeletal analyses of health and disease among groups with a known historical past. However, I also rely on primary historical sources such as newspapers, journals, letters, and public health records, to recreate the environment and economic context of the peoples I study in order to complely understand the synergistic relationship between environment, culture and biology and fully comprehend differences in health I may observe. Currently I am examining skeletal health disparities among African American and Euro-American individuals of low socioeconomic status born during the nineteenth century.
Select Publications:
Wells, Joshua and Carlina de la Cova (2007) Stable Isotopic Relationships between Age, Sex, and Maize Consumption in the Mississippian Vincennes Phase of Indiana. Society for Archaelogical Sciences Bulletin 30(4): 12-16.
In prep. Broken Bones, Fisticuff Fractures, and Community Cohesiveness: Observed Cultural Patterns of Trauma among Nineteenth Century-born Males in Cadaver Collections. Intended for American Anthropologist .
Presentations at Professional Meetings :
2009 "Silent Voices of the Destitute: An Examination of Skeletal Health Disparities among Nineteenth Century-born African Americans and Euro-Americans." Podium Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Paleopathology Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 2009.
2008 "An Analysis of Trauma among African Americans and Euro-Americans Born in the Nineteenth Century." Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Paleopathology Association, Columbus, Ohio, April 2008.
2007 Wells, Joshua and Carlina de la Cova. "When the Corn Mothers Came to Stay: A Bioarchaeological Perspective on Maize Consumption and Cahokian Diffusion in Early Mississippian Indiana." Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, Texas, April 2007.