Human bones tell the story of atmospheric mercury and lead exposure at the edge of Roman World

Olalla López-Costas; Malin Kylander; Nadine Mattielli; Noemi Álvarez-Fernández; Marta Pérez-Rodríguez; Tim Mighall; Richard Bindler; Antonio Martínez Cortizas

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136319

Human bones tell the story of atmospheric mercury and lead exposure at the edge of Roman World

Olalla López-Costas^*, Malin Kylander, Nadine Mattielli, Noemi Álvarez-Fernández, Marta Pérez-Rodríguez, Tim Mighall, Richard Bindler, Antonio Martínez Cortizas

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geography & Environment

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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.

Original language	English
Article number	136319
Number of pages	7
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	710
Early online date	30 Dec 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136319
Publication status	Published - May 2020

Keywords

Mercury
Lead
Lead isotope
Pollution
Skeleton
Archaeology
JURA MOUNTAINS
ISOTOPE ANALYSIS
PEAT BOG
DEPOSITION
BP
PREGNANCY
DANISH MEDIEVAL
GREENLAND
DIAGENESIS
ICP-MS

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136319Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Lopez_Costas_etal_STOTEN_Human_bones_VOR
Under a Creative Commons licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Final published version, 1.34 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969719363156

Cite this

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title = "Human bones tell the story of atmospheric mercury and lead exposure at the edge of Roman World",

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.",

keywords = "Mercury, Lead, Lead isotope, Pollution, Skeleton, Archaeology, JURA MOUNTAINS, ISOTOPE ANALYSIS, PEAT BOG, DEPOSITION, BP, PREGNANCY, DANISH MEDIEVAL, GREENLAND, DIAGENESIS, ICP-MS",

author = "Olalla L{\'o}pez-Costas and Malin Kylander and Nadine Mattielli and Noemi {\'A}lvarez-Fern{\'a}ndez and Marta P{\'e}rez-Rodr{\'i}guez and Tim Mighall and Richard Bindler and Cortizas, {Antonio Mart{\'i}nez}",

note = "We thank Museo de Pontevedra and Direcci{\'o}n Xeral de Patrimonio Xuntade Galicia for providing access to skeletal collections. OLC is funded by ED481D 2017/014Xunta de Galicia. This work was supported bythe projects: Galician Paleodiet (ED481D 2017/014), Consiliencia network (ED 431D2017/08), GPC (ED431B 2018/20) all funded by Xunta de Galicia.",

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month = may,

doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136319",

language = "English",

volume = "710",

journal = "Science of the Total Environment",

issn = "0048-9697",

publisher = "Elsevier",

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AU - López-Costas, Olalla

AU - Kylander, Malin

AU - Mattielli, Nadine

AU - Álvarez-Fernández, Noemi

AU - Pérez-Rodríguez, Marta

AU - Mighall, Tim

AU - Bindler, Richard

AU - Cortizas, Antonio Martínez

N1 - We thank Museo de Pontevedra and Dirección Xeral de Patrimonio Xuntade Galicia for providing access to skeletal collections. OLC is funded by ED481D 2017/014Xunta de Galicia. This work was supported bythe projects: Galician Paleodiet (ED481D 2017/014), Consiliencia network (ED 431D2017/08), GPC (ED431B 2018/20) all funded by Xunta de Galicia.

PY - 2020/5

Y1 - 2020/5

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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KW - Lead

KW - Lead isotope

KW - Pollution

KW - Skeleton

KW - Archaeology

KW - JURA MOUNTAINS

KW - ISOTOPE ANALYSIS

KW - PEAT BOG

KW - DEPOSITION

KW - BP

KW - PREGNANCY

KW - DANISH MEDIEVAL

KW - GREENLAND

KW - DIAGENESIS

KW - ICP-MS

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U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136319

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136319

M3 - Article

VL - 710

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

SN - 0048-9697

M1 - 136319

ER -

Human bones tell the story of atmospheric mercury and lead exposure at the edge of Roman World

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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