Human and Environmental Impacts of Ancient Copper Metallurgy

Abstract

Recent research in Wadi Faynan, a copper mining and smelting region of southern Jordan, indicates that the issues of ancient pollution and contamination are far from straightforward. Whereas previous studies have stated that metal production led to widespread heavy metal contamination of the environment and of humans, this paper argues that lead contamination, a by-product of smelting local ore, is found only in microlocales and affected a small fraction of the local population. Geochemical analysis of agricultural soils revealed an increase of lead in isolated locations due to floodwaters that were contaminated by mining upstream. Distance from copper production areas was not a factor. Analysis of human remains also shows that lead contamination was restricted to a small number of individuals who were directly involved in the copper smelting. These findings suggest that the scale of environmental degradation was not proportional to the scale of economic exploitation.

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