Lead pollution recorded in Greenland ice indicates European emissions tracked plagues, wars, and imperial expansion during antiquity

Autor(en)

Joseph R. McConnell, Andrew I. Wilson, Andreas Stohl, Monica M. Arienzo, Nathan J. Chellman, Sabine Eckhardt, Elisabeth M. Thompson, A. Mark Pollard, Jørgen Peder Steffensen

Abstrakt

Lead pollution in Arctic ice reflects midlatitude emissions from ancient lead–silver mining and smelting. The few reported measurements have been extrapolated to infer the performance of ancient economies, including comparisons of economic productivity and growth during the Roman Republican and Imperial periods. These studies were based on sparse sampling and inaccurate dating, limiting understanding of trends and specific linkages. Here we show, using a precisely dated record of estimated lead emissions between 1100 BCE and 800 CE derived from subannually resolved measurements in Greenland ice and detailed atmospheric transport modeling, that annual European lead emissions closely varied with historical events, including imperial expansion, wars, and major plagues. Emissions rose coeval with Phoenician expansion, accelerated during expanded Carthaginian and Roman mining primarily in the Iberian Peninsula, and reached a maximum under the Roman Empire. Emissions fluctuated synchronously with wars and political instability particularly during the Roman Republic, and plunged coincident with two major plagues in the second and third centuries, remaining low for >500 years. Bullion in silver coinage declined in parallel, reflecting the importance of lead–silver mining in ancient economies. Our results indicate sustained economic growth during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire, terminated by the second-century Antonine plague.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Meteorologie und Geophysik

Externe Organisation(en)

Desert Research Institute, University of Oxford, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, University of Copenhagen

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Band

115

Seiten

5726-5731

Anzahl der Seiten

6

ISSN

0027-8424

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721818115

Publikationsdatum

05-2018

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

105206 Meteorologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

General

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 8 – Menschenwürdige Arbeit und Wirtschaftswachstum, SDG 16 – Frieden, Gerechtigkeit und starke Institutionen

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/fe5e7818-1b27-45c0-a200-463cce9479a7