Dangerous Food. Climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in Younger Stone Age seafood in northern Norway.
Accepted manuscript version, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Stable isotope and elemental analyses of the Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) and harp seal ( Phoca groenlandica ) bone component of the marine food that dominated the Younger Stone Age (c. 6.1–3.5 ka BP) diet in Varanger, Arctic northern Norway, i...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/20622 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.01.019 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/20622 2023-05-15T14:59:20+02:00 Dangerous Food. Climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in Younger Stone Age seafood in northern Norway. Blankholm, Hans Peter Lidén, Kerstin Kovaevic, Nikola Angerbjörn, Karin 2020-01-28 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/20622 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.01.019 eng eng Elsevier Quaternary International info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/SAMKUL/246899/Norway/Joint research on human and natural adaptation to changing climates and environments in the High North by proxy data/Joint Proxies/ Blankholm H.P., Lidén K, Kovaevic N, Angerbjörn. Dangerous Food. Climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in Younger Stone Age seafood in northern Norway. Quaternary International. 2020:74-83 FRIDAID 1793131 doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.01.019 1040-6182 1873-4553 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/20622 embargoedAccess Copyright 2020 The Author(s) VDP::Humanities: 000::Archeology: 090 VDP::Humaniora: 000::Arkeologi: 090 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed acceptedVersion 2020 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.01.019 2021-06-25T17:58:05Z Accepted manuscript version, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Stable isotope and elemental analyses of the Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) and harp seal ( Phoca groenlandica ) bone component of the marine food that dominated the Younger Stone Age (c. 6.1–3.5 ka BP) diet in Varanger, Arctic northern Norway, indicate, at times, climate change induced highly elevated levels of the heavy metals cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), and elevated levels of mercury (Hg). On average, the levels of cadmium and lead contamination in cod were up to 22 and 3–4 times, respectively, higher than today's recommended limits in soft tissue. The corresponding figures for seal were 15 and 3–4 times, respectively. The levels of Hg were generally below today's recommended limit in soft tissue, but still of considerable magnitude, almost similar to the measured values in modern fish in the Arctic. This shows that marine food in the Younger Stone Age was unhealthy, if not unsafe. We discuss this unexpected knock-on effect in terms of sea surface temperatures and sea level change. The elevated values may have been detrimental for humans, if not for society; a balancing factor may have been a larger component of terrestrial resources than previously assumed. Concomitantly, this contribution to the paleo base-line record of toxicity may lead to predictions for seafood contamination in the future. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic atlantic cod Climate change Gadus morhua Harp Seal Northern Norway Phoca groenlandica Varanger University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Norway Quaternary International 549 74 83 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Humanities: 000::Archeology: 090 VDP::Humaniora: 000::Arkeologi: 090 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Humanities: 000::Archeology: 090 VDP::Humaniora: 000::Arkeologi: 090 Blankholm, Hans Peter Lidén, Kerstin Kovaevic, Nikola Angerbjörn, Karin Dangerous Food. Climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in Younger Stone Age seafood in northern Norway. |
topic_facet |
VDP::Humanities: 000::Archeology: 090 VDP::Humaniora: 000::Arkeologi: 090 |
description |
Accepted manuscript version, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Stable isotope and elemental analyses of the Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) and harp seal ( Phoca groenlandica ) bone component of the marine food that dominated the Younger Stone Age (c. 6.1–3.5 ka BP) diet in Varanger, Arctic northern Norway, indicate, at times, climate change induced highly elevated levels of the heavy metals cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), and elevated levels of mercury (Hg). On average, the levels of cadmium and lead contamination in cod were up to 22 and 3–4 times, respectively, higher than today's recommended limits in soft tissue. The corresponding figures for seal were 15 and 3–4 times, respectively. The levels of Hg were generally below today's recommended limit in soft tissue, but still of considerable magnitude, almost similar to the measured values in modern fish in the Arctic. This shows that marine food in the Younger Stone Age was unhealthy, if not unsafe. We discuss this unexpected knock-on effect in terms of sea surface temperatures and sea level change. The elevated values may have been detrimental for humans, if not for society; a balancing factor may have been a larger component of terrestrial resources than previously assumed. Concomitantly, this contribution to the paleo base-line record of toxicity may lead to predictions for seafood contamination in the future. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Blankholm, Hans Peter Lidén, Kerstin Kovaevic, Nikola Angerbjörn, Karin |
author_facet |
Blankholm, Hans Peter Lidén, Kerstin Kovaevic, Nikola Angerbjörn, Karin |
author_sort |
Blankholm, Hans Peter |
title |
Dangerous Food. Climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in Younger Stone Age seafood in northern Norway. |
title_short |
Dangerous Food. Climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in Younger Stone Age seafood in northern Norway. |
title_full |
Dangerous Food. Climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in Younger Stone Age seafood in northern Norway. |
title_fullStr |
Dangerous Food. Climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in Younger Stone Age seafood in northern Norway. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dangerous Food. Climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in Younger Stone Age seafood in northern Norway. |
title_sort |
dangerous food. climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in younger stone age seafood in northern norway. |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/20622 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.01.019 |
geographic |
Arctic Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway |
genre |
Arctic atlantic cod Climate change Gadus morhua Harp Seal Northern Norway Phoca groenlandica Varanger |
genre_facet |
Arctic atlantic cod Climate change Gadus morhua Harp Seal Northern Norway Phoca groenlandica Varanger |
op_relation |
Quaternary International info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/SAMKUL/246899/Norway/Joint research on human and natural adaptation to changing climates and environments in the High North by proxy data/Joint Proxies/ Blankholm H.P., Lidén K, Kovaevic N, Angerbjörn. Dangerous Food. Climate change induced elevated heavy metal levels in Younger Stone Age seafood in northern Norway. Quaternary International. 2020:74-83 FRIDAID 1793131 doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.01.019 1040-6182 1873-4553 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/20622 |
op_rights |
embargoedAccess Copyright 2020 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.01.019 |
container_title |
Quaternary International |
container_volume |
549 |
container_start_page |
74 |
op_container_end_page |
83 |
_version_ |
1766331437890404352 |