rufenig
  • rufenig
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
5 years ago
Ancient air pollution, trapped in ice, reveals new details about life and death in 12th Century Britain.
In a study, scientists have found traces of lead, transported on the winds from British mines that operated in the late 1100s.
Air pollution from lead in this time period was as bad as during the industrial revolution centuries later.
The pollution also sheds light on a notorious murder of the medieval era; the killing of Thomas Becket.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52095694 
Jim MacPherson
5 years ago
Seems quite bold commentary, I wonder if their analysis is sensitive enough to remove lead dust originating in the Harz district. I also wonder a bit about the wind direction, north westerly air flows are not that common across the UK.

Perhaps the actual article is clearer.

The BBC ink to Antiquity doesn't seem to operate and I've not found the article on their site yet.

Something to do today as it looks a bit too dull and cool to get on with things in the garden and there's only so much housework that's worth doing. :o

Jim
ChrisJC
5 years ago
I remain to be convinced I have to say.

Correlation does not mean causation and all that.

I wonder if they have teased out other effects too.

Chris.
Jim MacPherson
5 years ago
Still can't find the actual article, but this one, also co-authored by the same bloke, is similar work but relating to lead pollution during the Black Death some 150/200 years later, part of the confidence that it was mainly English sources was that the Harz output had been largely closed down by then as a consequence of mortality rates.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2017GH000064 

It's quite detailed. :confused:

Jim
Margot
  • Margot
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie
5 years ago
They give the link in the BBC article:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/alpine-ice-and-the-annual-political-economy-of-the-angevin-empire-from-the-death-of-thomas-becket-to-magna-carta-c-ad-11701216/C01D8EA75B0D2A7DFC8FAFFD7E3BB7C8 

And they do spend a lot of text on why they think it was UK lead. And well, they admit they are not being statistically robust, and of course correlation does not equate to causation, but I think they give us something interesting to think about!
Jim MacPherson
5 years ago
Fine work Margot, when I first tried the BBC link it sent me to an error page, hence my, not completely successful, trawling.

Mind the BBC take on it was a bit selective.

Between the two articles that should consume plenty of time.

Jim
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