TY - JOUR
T1 - Lead in Archeological Human Bones Reflecting Historical Changes in Lead Production
AU - Erel, Yigal
AU - Pinhasi, Ron
AU - Coppa, Alfredo
AU - Ticher, Adi
AU - Tirosh, Ofir
AU - Carmel, Liran
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society
PY - 2021/11/2
Y1 - 2021/11/2
N2 - Forty years ago, in a seminal paper published inScience, Settle and Patterson used archeological and historical data to estimate the rates of worldwide lead production since the discovery of cupellation, approximately 5000 years ago. Here, we record actual lead exposure of a human population by direct measurements of the concentrations of lead in petrous bones of individuals representing approximately 12 000 years of inhabitation in Italy. This documentation of lead pollution throughout human history indicates that, remarkably, much of the estimated dynamics in lead production is replicated in human exposure. Thus, lead pollution in humans has closely followed anthropogenic lead production. This observation raises concerns that the forecasted increase in the production of lead and other metals might affect human health in the near future.
AB - Forty years ago, in a seminal paper published inScience, Settle and Patterson used archeological and historical data to estimate the rates of worldwide lead production since the discovery of cupellation, approximately 5000 years ago. Here, we record actual lead exposure of a human population by direct measurements of the concentrations of lead in petrous bones of individuals representing approximately 12 000 years of inhabitation in Italy. This documentation of lead pollution throughout human history indicates that, remarkably, much of the estimated dynamics in lead production is replicated in human exposure. Thus, lead pollution in humans has closely followed anthropogenic lead production. This observation raises concerns that the forecasted increase in the production of lead and other metals might affect human health in the near future.
KW - diagenetic addition of metals
KW - lead pollution
KW - petrous bones
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114145137&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.1c00614
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.1c00614
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C2 - 34724791
AN - SCOPUS:85114145137
SN - 0013-936X
VL - 55
SP - 14407
EP - 14413
JO - Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 21
ER -
