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Human bones tell the story of atmospheric mercury and lead exposure at the edge of Roman World
- Source :
- Science of the total environment, 710
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Atmospheric metal pollution is a major health concern whose roots pre-date industrialization. This study pertains the analyses of ancient human skeletons and compares them with natural archives to trace historical environmental exposure at the edge of the Roman Empire in NW Iberia. The novelty of our approach relies on the combination of mercury, lead and lead isotopes. We found over a 700-year period that rural Romans incorporated two times more mercury and lead into their bones than post-Romans inhabiting the same site, independent of sex or age. Atmospheric pollution sources contributed on average 57% (peaking at 85%) of the total lead incorporated into the bones in Roman times, which decreased to 24% after the decline of Rome. These values and accompanying changes in lead isotopic composition mirror changes in atmospheric Pb deposition recorded in local peatlands. Thus, skeletons are a time-transgressive archive reflecting contaminant exposure.<br />SCOPUS: ar.j<br />info:eu-repo/semantics/published
- Subjects :
- Pollution
Environmental Engineering
Peat
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
media_common.quotation_subject
Human bone
chemistry.chemical_element
010501 environmental sciences
Classical Archaeology and Ancient History
01 natural sciences
Roman World
Bone and Bones
Environnement et pollution
Environmental Chemistry
Humans
Waste Management and Disposal
Skeleton
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
media_common
Isotope analysis
Lead isotope
Environmental exposure
Environmental Exposure
Mercury
Antikvetenskap
humanities
Mercury (element)
Roman Empire
Diagenesis
Technologie de l'environnement, contrôle de la pollution
chemistry
Lead
Archaeology
Environmental science
Traitement des déchets
Physical geography
Environmental Pollution
Environmental Monitoring
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Science of the total environment, 710
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ccc7e1ff58004951dd29be21ae1fc8a4