Lead pollution has been going on for thousands of years. However, it appears the pollution has been going on for longer than realized. This is because researchers have discovered that Ancient Greeks and Romans were responsible for the “world’s first industrial pollution.”
In a new study published in Communications Earth & Environment, researchers have discovered that lead pollution began on Earth 5,200 years ago. This superseded the previous record by 1,200 years.
To determine that Ancient Greeks and Romans were polluting the air with lead pollution, researchers took sediment cores from the Aegean Sea. They also took a sample from the Tenaghi Philippon peatland in Greece.
The pollen spores in the samples were analyzed as well to determine how “social and cultural changes affected the region’s ecosystem” over the years.
The samples led researchers to surprisingly discover how much earlier lead pollution was released into the atmosphere.
According to Yale historian Joseph Manning, the pollution is the first recorded “industrial pollution” in the history of the world.
“Lead released from smelting is the world’s first form of toxic or industrial pollution.” Joseph Manning
Smelting is the process of melting metals at a high heat to remove the impurities in the sample to get a pure metal. During this process of melting silver, lead was also melted. This is how lead was released into the atmosphere.
Consequently, lead has been in the environment for far longer than ever realized. This means that the side effects of lead pollution have been felt for centuries longer than first believed as well.
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Previous Record For the Earliest Lead Pollution Was 3600 BCE In Serbia
Before the discovery of lead pollution in the Aegean Sea, researchers discovered lead pollution dating back to 3600 BCE in Serbia. This was believed to be the earliest pollution caused by working with ore to create coins, weapons, jewelry, and more.
Silver does not cause lead pollution. However, according to a study published in PNAS, silver and lead are often mined together. When the silver is smelted, the lead is burned off into the environment. The particles are then breathed in, left to be absorbed into the ocean, or in the case of the pollution discovered in Serbia, the peat in bogs.
Because peat grows at such a slow rate, it holds centuries of history with a small sample collected. In this case, according to PHYS.ORG, just over three feet was collected to determine that the Balkans were at the forefront of silver production during the Bronze Age, through the Dark Ages, and into medieval times.
Unfortunately, this means that the Balkans were constantly exposed to lead pollution, which comes with a whole host of health issues. One of the most studied is cognitive decline.
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Low-Level Lead Exposure Is Responsible For Cognitive Decline
Today, it is well documented that lead exposure is responsible for health issues, including cognitive decline. However, that is not something that was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who are believed to have had massive cognitive decline centuries ago.
In addition to the study recently published in Communications Earth & Environment, another study published in PNAS speaks to the cognitive decline Romans experienced during the Iron Age, which peaked in the 2nd century BCE.
During this time, there were massive amounts of atmospheric lead poisoning occurring. The levels were so high, they were 40 times higher than what was found in the 1970s, which is considered the “highest historical peak.”
Consequently, the Greeks and Romans were consistently being exposed to lead, which eventually caused a cognitive decline, according to study co-author, Nathan Chellman, of two to three IQ points.
“An IQ reduction of 2 to 3 points doesn’t sound like much, but when you apply that to essentially the entire European population, it’s kind of a big deal.” – Nathan Chellman
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“Lead is known to have a wide range of human health impacts,” Chellman explained, “but we chose to focus on cognitive decline because it’s something we can put a number on.”
Therefore, not only were the Greeks and Romans unknowingly polluting the environment with lead, but they were unknowingly causing irreversible harm to themselves as well.