Lead in ancient Rome's city waters

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Delile, Hugo, Blichert-Toft, Janne, Goiran, Jean-Philippe, Keay, Simon, Albarède, Francis
• Other Authors: Environnement Ville Société (EVS), Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA Lyon), Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Lyon (ENSAL)-École des Mines de Saint-Étienne (Mines Saint-Étienne MSE), Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (ENTPE)-Université Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 (UJML), Université de Lyon-Université Lumière - Lyon 2 (UL2)-École normale supérieure - Lyon (ENS Lyon), Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon - Terre, Planètes, Environnement Lyon (LGL-TPE), École normale supérieure - Lyon (ENS Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), ARCHEORIENT - Environnements et sociétés de l'Orient ancien (Archéorient), Université Lumière - Lyon 2 (UL2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Southampton
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: harbor geoarcheology; paleopollution; Late Holocene; ore provenance; sedimentology; geo; envir; Greenland; Tiber; Greenland ice core; ice core
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1400097111; https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01099828/file/Delile%20et%20al._PNAS_2014.pdf; https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01099828

International audience It is now universally accepted that utilization of lead for domestic purposes and water distribution presents a major health hazard. The ancient Roman world was unaware of these risks. How far the gigantic network of lead pipes used in ancient Rome compromised public health in the city is unknown. Lead isotopes in sediments from the harbor of Imperial Rome register the presence of a strong anthropogenic component during the beginning of the Common Era and the Early Middle Ages. They demonstrate that the lead pipes of the water distribution system increased Pb contents in drinking water of the capital city by up to two orders of magni-tude over the natural background. The Pb isotope record shows that the discontinuities in the pollution of the Tiber by lead are intimately entwined with the major issues affecting Late Antique Rome and its water distribution system. harbor geoarcheology | paleopollution | Late Holocene | ore provenance | sedimentology S tatistics on demography, money supply and metal circulation, life and health standards, and many other social parameters required to understand modern history are largely missing from the written record of the ancient past. For example, the ap-parently simple question of how the population of ancient Rome evolved is still unresolved (1, 2), prompting the design of indirect estimates (3). Another well-publicized problem illus-trating the lack of primary sources of accurate information is the decade-old debate on Pb poisoning of the high society of Rome, either by lead water pipes or grape juice concoctions prepared in lead cups (4–9). Here we focus on the condition of Pb in the public waters of ancient Rome. Lead is regarded as a powerful and ubiquitous indicator of the manufacturing status of a society. For example, a surge in Pb concentrations in the Greenland ice-core record was correlated with the height of the Roman Empire (10). Three out of the four existing Pb isotopes are rapidly modified by the radioactive decay of nat-ural uranium or ...