Environmental metal pollution revealed in archaeological human remains

Environmental metal pollution threatens us all. While discussions of further prevention continue, the historical dimension is rarely considered. The long history of metal contamination has been well traced in natural archives (e.g. lake sediments and peat).

However, there is a need for long-term studies directly on humans remains to fully understand how metal pollution affected the life of our ancestors.

PollutedPast will fill this gap by linking new research on skeletal remains from archaeological sites with research done using natural archives. The overall objective is to determine the severity of metal pollution in preindustrial populations.

This will be achieved by meeting four prerequisites: 1) availability of high chronological resolution studies in natural archives, 2) periods of contrasting pollution levels, 3) areas with contrasting pollution histories, and 4) availability of well-suited and studied osteological collections.

The investigations will concentrate on collections from NW and SE Spain, and SE Sweden, selecting individuals from Roman to Late Medieval times.

Individuals at risk (babies, those with chronic infectious diseases) will also be targeted.The methodological approach is based in a revolutionary combination of techniques.

Multielemental (>30) and high-resolution (every 200μm) analyses of bones, bioapatite and teeth will provide critical insights into metals incorporation.

Lead, copper and mercury, metals different sources and biogeochemical cycles, will be researched in depth and compared with well-reconstructed pollution histories in natural archives from the selected areas.

Lead isotopes will be used, aided by mixing models, to trace the sources and estimate the proportion of pollution-lead in skeletons.

This project will generate ground-breaking knowledge about the long-term impact of metal contamination – by mining and metallurgy - and explore how differences in resources management may have had consequences regarding human societies.