Lead contamination may have led to the collapse of the Roman Empire

Lead pollution concerns Release of lead into the environment through the combustion of fossil fuels but also through other means. It causes serious harm to both the planet and humans.

The effects of this contamination are so far-reaching that they may even have led to the end of civilizations, including the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Consequences of lead pollution

A study by the Desert Research Institute surveyed Arctic ice to better understand past environmental pollution and its effects on human health. This ice has tiny air bubbles that contain microscopic clues about what the Earth’s atmosphere was like when this material was produced.

These bubbles gave researchers important information about what atmospheric lead pollution levels were like over the centuries. Through them, they obtained data regarding the period of the Roman Empire, especially the Pax Romana period.

The finding was surprising: During this period, Roman civilization experienced a significant increase in mining and smelting activities across Europe. The result was serious lead contamination.

“This is the first study to take a record of pollution from an ice core and invert it to obtain atmospheric pollution concentrations and then assess human impacts. The idea that we could do this 2,000 years ago is quite novel and exciting,” commented Joe McConnell, lead author of the study.

Lead smelting in ancient Roman times

It is important to remember here the fact that during the Roman Empire, smelting was an important process that allowed the Romans to extract precious metals such as iron, copper and lead from their ores. For this reason, they built large furnaces where they heated the material with coal.

It turned out that the intense heat caused the metal to separate from the rocky ore, melt and accumulate at the bottom of the furnace. There were also skilled workers controlling the temperature and airflow to ensure proper melting of metals without wasting fuel or damaging the furnace.

This metal was later used to make many items, from weapons to works of art. In particular, the use of lead in plumbing and construction shows that the Romans were already very advanced in engineering knowledge.

Through ice analysis, researchers have determined that lead contamination levels in B.C. He noted that it rose and fell between 500 AD and 600 AD. It started to increase in the Iron Age and B.C. It peaked in the late 2nd century, at the height of the Roman Republic.

The study also estimates that at the height of the Roman Empire, more than 500 kilotons of lead were released into the atmosphere, mostly as a byproduct of silver mining.

Harmful effects of lead among the Romans

Scientists suggest that this chronic exposure to lead pollution may have caused many ongoing negative health effects for Romans. “Lead is known to have a wide range of effects on human health, but we chose to focus on cognitive decline because it’s something we can measure,” explains Nathan Chellman, DRI professor of snow and ice hydrology and author of the study. .

Well, The large amounts of lead pollution in Europe at this time may have caused widespread cognitive decline in the population, Including those living in Rome. Researchers believe that during the height of this government, a massive increase in metal ore mining and processing led to increased lead air pollution, which may have led to an estimated 2 to 3 point drop in people’s IQ.

“Our findings show that anthropogenic emissions from industrial activities have caused widespread damage to human health for more than two millennia, which I think is quite profound,” McConnell said. he added.

The study also notes that Roman doctors already knew the risks of lead poisoning, yet the metal was still widely used in water pipes and kitchen pans, as well as medicines, cosmetics and toys.

On average, at the height of the empire, children’s blood lead levels may have increased by 2.4 micrograms per deciliter, which could have lowered their IQ by 2.5 to 3 points. Based on the estimate that more than 80 million people lived in the Roman Empire, it is stated that a quarter of the world’s population may have been exposed to lead pollution caused by mining and smelting.

Scientists conclude by saying that the effects of poisoning caused by this metal could be so serious that it even raises a debate about whether the empire could fall because of it. “A 2.5 to 3 point decrease in IQ may not seem like much, but it occurred across the entire population and must have continued throughout the approximately 180 years of the Pax Romana. I leave it to epidemiologists, ancient historians, and archaeologists to determine whether this occurred. Lead in air pollution levels and the health effects we identified were enough to change the story,” McConnell concluded.

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