  We report on the chemical abundances of stars in the Carina dwarf spheroidal
galaxy (dSph) derived from low-resolution spectra. We have determined values of
[Fe/H] for 52 stars from the reduced equivalent width of the Ca II infrared
triplet lines. The Carina dSph has a mean metallicity of [Fe/H] = -1.99 +/-
0.08 and an intrinsic metallicity dispersion 0.25 dex (1 sigma). By directly
determining the chemical abundances of Carina stars through spectroscopy, we
can overcome the age-metallicity degeneracy inherent in color-magnitude
diagrams (CMDs) and determine its star-formation history with unprecedented
accuracy.
