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Environmental metal pollution revealed in archaeological human remains

Project description

Environmental metal pollution through skeletal remains research

The threat of environmental metal pollution affects everyone, yet its historical dimension is often overlooked in discussions about prevention. More research on human remains is needed to understand how metal pollution impacted our ancestors. The ERC-funded PollutedPast project aims to assess the extent of metal pollution in pre-industrial populations by studying skeletal remains from archaeological sites and natural archives in northwestern and southeastern Spain and southeastern Sweden, dating from the Roman to Late Medieval periods. The project will use multi-elemental and high-resolution analyses of bones, bioapatite, and teeth to investigate metal incorporation. Its goal is to generate knowledge about the long-term effects of metal contamination on human societies.

Objective

Environmental metal pollution threatens us all. While discussions of further prevention continue, the historical dimension is rarely considered. The long history of metal contamination has been well traced in natural archives (e.g. lake sediments and peat). However, there is a need for long-term studies directly on humans remains to fully understand how metal pollution affected the life of our ancestors.
PollutedPast will fill this gap by linking new research on skeletal remains from archaeological sites with research done using natural archives. The overall objective is to determine the severity of metal pollution in preindustrial populations. This will be achieved by meeting four prerequisites: 1) availability of high chronological resolution studies in natural archives, 2) periods of contrasting pollution levels, 3) areas with contrasting pollution histories, and 4) availability of well-suited and studied osteological collections. The investigations will concentrate on collections from NW and SE Spain, and SE Sweden, selecting individuals from Roman to Late Medieval times. Individuals at risk (babies, those with chronic infectious diseases) will also be targeted.
The methodological approach is based in a revolutionary combination of techniques. Multielemental (>30) and high-resolution (every 200μm) analyses of bones, bioapatite and teeth will provide critical insights into metals incorporation. Lead, copper and mercury, metals different sources and biogeochemical cycles, will be researched in depth and compared with well-reconstructed pollution histories in natural archives from the selected areas. Lead isotopes will be used, aided by mixing models, to trace the sources and estimate the proportion of pollution-lead in skeletons.
This project will generate ground-breaking knowledge about the long-term impact of metal contamination – by mining and metallurgy - and explore how differences in resources management may have had consequences regarding human societies.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2022-COG

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Host institution

UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 874 716,00
Address
COLEXIO DE SAN XEROME PRAZA DO OBRADOIRO S/N
15782 Santiago De Compostela
Spain

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Region
Noroeste Galicia A Coruña
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 874 716,00

Beneficiaries (2)

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