Roman Empire – pollution in antiquity

Long before the start of the industrial revolution, people have changed their environment extensively. Metal processing was very important for the development of human civilization. But there are also evidence of their harmful effects. Even in ancient times, the load with lead that was released when melting silver and piliary was widespread. Two new studies provide information about it.

Andreas Koutsodendendris from the University of Heidelberg and his colleagues from various institutes in Germany and Greece found that the Blezen Bleinsel Bleins was released on the Balkan Peninsula for 1200 years earlier than previously assumed. For this they examined the sediments at various points in the Aegean and deposits in a bog in northeastern Greece. Their results appeared in the journal at the end of January »Communications Earth & Environment«.

Among other things, they were able to show that the spread of lead in the environment coincides with the beginning of the bronze age. This is scheduled in the region around 3200 before the start of our era. At the same time, they found that with the spread of Roman rule to Greece about 2150 years ago, the lead concentrations in the deposits in the moor and on the bottom of the Aegean had also increased significantly. This proves an expansion of the mining and the smelting.

The spread of lead in the environment coincides with the beginning of the Bronze Age.

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Lead is a toxic heavy metal that, among other things, damages the nervous system and accumulates in the body because it displaces the calcium in the bones. Joseph McConnel from Desert Research Institute in Reno, USA, as well as his colleagues from different countries in North America and Western Europe, therefore, in another study, the population of the Roman Empire was concerned. Various antique texts contained indications of the health consequences, write in your study, which in
it »Proceedings of the National Academy of Science« (PNAS) was published.

There are many causes of lead poisoning. Among other things, the use of leading colors and drinking vessels in the old Romans is suitable. For the poorer rural population, which had no access to luxury goods, the problem may have been the background.

In order to determine their consequences, the researchers have information about the lead pollution from the period of 500 before the start of our era and the
Year 600 used, which can be found in ice drilling nuclei on Greenland. In combination with models of atmospheric circulation, this could be determined how much lead in the Mediterranean had been in the air or had to have deposited on the plants there. The result: In a cubic meter of air, more than a nanogram (one billionth gram) was leading in a cubic meter of air. Near the mines and processing facilities, the stress of the air was about 150 times as strong. Otherwise, the authors point out that the crises of the Roman Republic and the later empire can also be read in lower lead deposits in Greenland.

Using the epidemiological models, the air pollutant values ​​could finally be estimated that the blood of average Roman toddlers was loaded with 3.4 micrograms of lead per 100 milliliters. For comparison: According to a study published in 2021 in the “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report” by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention 100 milliliters of blood. In the period 2011 to 2016 it was only 0.83 micrograms per 100 milliliters, which was mainly based on the ban on lead additives in
Funds may be due. At the same time, the authors pointed out that there is no safe level of lead recording and that even very small quantities are already causing damage in the body.