With respect to Roman copper production at Wadi Feinan, Jordan, Peter
Claughton wrote:
>
>
> A multi disciplinary research programme has explored the pollution impacts
> of ancient mining and smelting and measured its persistence into
> the modern
> environment. The paper relates the pollution impact to the heavy metals
> present in the bones of the people living and working in the industry ;
> where 'Analysis of the bone chemical content of many individuals excavated
> from the south cemetery suggest direct exposure to potentially
> lethal doses
> of copper, lead and cadmium'.
>
Not necessarily. The fact that one can find elevated quantities of heavy
metals in bones from archaeological sites doesn't necessaily mean that these
were the quantities in bone at the time of death. Bone will react with
groundwater, and can concentrate metals from fairly dilute solutions. Pike
and Richards have modelled the chemistry of exchange between bone and
groundwater containing uranium, and have shown that a bone at equilibrium
with groundwater containing 1 part per billion uranium will produce
concentrations of uranium of 10-100 parts per million in the bone! (Journal
of Archaeological Science 29(6):607-611, 2002). Similar post-mortem changes
in lead, copper and cadmium content of bone are to be expected in anyone
buried in a district like Wadi Feinan, where the soil water can be expected
to contain higher than normal concentrations of these metals
Dave Killick
|