Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 233.6 to int loses precision in C:\Inetpub\vhosts\kidney.de\httpdocs\pget.php on line 534
Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 233.6 to int loses precision in C:\Inetpub\vhosts\kidney.de\httpdocs\pget.php on line 534
Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 233.6 to int loses precision in C:\Inetpub\vhosts\kidney.de\httpdocs\pget.php on line 534
Warning: imagejpeg(C:\Inetpub\vhosts\kidney.de\httpdocs\phplern\26388184
.jpg): Failed to open stream: No such file or directory in C:\Inetpub\vhosts\kidney.de\httpdocs\pget.php on line 117 Sci+Rep
2015 ; 5
(ä): 14252
Nephropedia Template TP
gab.com Text
Twit Text FOAVip
Twit Text #
English Wikipedia
Earliest evidence of pollution by heavy metals in archaeological sites
#MMPMID26388184
Monge G
; Jimenez-Espejo FJ
; García-Alix A
; Martínez-Ruiz F
; Mattielli N
; Finlayson C
; Ohkouchi N
; Sánchez MC
; de Castro JM
; Blasco R
; Rosell J
; Carrión J
; Rodríguez-Vidal J
; Finlayson G
Sci Rep
2015[Sep]; 5
(ä): 14252
PMID26388184
show ga
Homo species were exposed to a new biogeochemical environment when they began to
occupy caves. Here we report the first evidence of palaeopollution through
geochemical analyses of heavy metals in four renowned archaeological caves of the
Iberian Peninsula spanning the last million years of human evolution. Heavy metal
contents reached high values due to natural (guano deposition) and anthropogenic
factors (e.g. combustion) in restricted cave environments. The earliest
anthropogenic pollution evidence is related to Neanderthal hearths from Gorham's
Cave (Gibraltar), being one of the first milestones in the so-called
"Anthropocene". According to its heavy metal concentration, these sediments meet
the present-day standards of "contaminated soil". Together with the former, the
Gibraltar Vanguard Cave, shows Zn and Cu pollution ubiquitous across highly
anthropic levels pointing to these elements as potential proxies for human
activities. Pb concentrations in Magdalenian and Bronze age levels at El Pirulejo
site can be similarly interpreted. Despite these high pollution levels, the
contaminated soils might not have posed a major threat to Homo populations.
Altogether, the data presented here indicate a long-term exposure of Homo to
these elements, via fires, fumes and their ashes, which could have played certain
role in environmental-pollution tolerance, a hitherto neglected influence.