Lead pollution in the Aegean region may have begun around 5,200 years ago, according to a study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. The findings suggest that lead pollution caused by human activities began about 1,200 years earlier than previously thought, and that the expansion of the Roman Empire into the Aegean region led to a substantial increase in lead pollution in the area around 2,150 years ago.
Andreas Koutsodendris and his colleagues analyzed the lead content of marine sediment cores drawn from across the Aegean Sea, and of a sediment core taken from the Tenaghi Philippon peatland, located in northeastern Greece.
They then analyzed the pollen and spore content of several of the cores, combining them with similar regional data and with lead-content data to investigate how the region’s ecosystems were affected by the social and cultural changes of the time.
The findings include the oldest recorded signal of likely human-caused lead pollution, occurring about 5,200 years ago in the Tenaghi Philippon core. This is roughly 1,200 years earlier than the oldest suspected lead pollution recorded in peat cores from the Balkan Peninsula.
The authors also suggest that a shift in vegetation records and an increase in the lead-pollution signal about 2,150 years ago are likely linked to the expansion of the Roman Empire into Ancient Greece at that time.
This period was marked by a significant rise in the extraction of gold, silver, and other metals for coinage and other uses. The increase in the lead-pollution signal includes the first appearance of lead in marine sediment cores, which the authors suggest may be the oldest probable lead pollution recorded in a marine environment.
