Severe lead contamination among children of samurai families in Edo period Japan

Nakashima, Tamiji; Matsuno, Koji; Matsushita, Masami; Matsushita, Takayuki

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.07.028

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The significance of Pb in human and non-human skeletal remains from archaeological contexts is well established [39,40,52,[70][71][72][73][74]. Lead has received attention largely because of its known toxic effects and concentration in bone [68,69].…”

Section: Copper and Pb As Socioeconomic Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trace element distribution in human cortical bone microstructure: the potential for unravelling diet and social status in archaeological bones

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Variation in the trace element chemistry of cortical bone microstructure is delineated for interred and non-interred human femora. This was done to investigate the range of element concentrations that might occur within single bones, specifically the original laminar bone and later osteons, and its potential for investigating chemical life histories. To do so, femora were chosen from individuals who experienced quite different ways of life over the past two millennia. The distributions of Sr, Ba, Cu, and Pb, mostly in partial (early) and complete (late) osteons, in cross-sections of proximal femora were characterized through Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Absolute calibrations of these data were obtained using solution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry on adjacent dissolved bulk samples. Chemical life histories were approximated by classifying bone microstructure into four categories: laminar bone and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation osteons. This four-part sequence, on average, charts the temporal dimension of an individual’s life. Consistent with recent studies of medieval bones, Sr and Ba are thought to be mainly responsive to diet, presumably related to the consumption of mostly locally produced food, while Cu and Pb do the same for heavy metal exposure often attributable to social status or occupation. No systematic differences in these elements were found between interred and non-interred individuals. The effect of diagenesis on interpretations of life histories based on archaeological bone, therefore, are minimized by plotting element concentrations across cortical bone cross-sections.

show abstract

Section: Copper and Pb As Socioeconomic Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trace element distribution in human cortical bone microstructure: the potential for unravelling diet and social status in archaeological bones

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The use of Pb as a biomarker in archaeology has been rising in the last decades since the relationship between the Pb concentration in bones and Pb concentration in blood have been established [62,63]. It has been successfully used on human and animal bones as a marker for detecting environmental pollution linked to urbanization and metal industry in past societies [46,[64][65][66][67][68], but also for drawing inferences about social status in populations where the use of Pb can be seen as a discriminating social factor [32,39,46,[69][70][71].…”

Section: Leadmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of trace element chemistry in human bones interred in two private chapels attached to Franciscan friaries in Italy and Denmark: an investigation of social stratification in two medieval and post-medieval societies

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Individuals buried in two 17th-18th Century private chapels, each attached to a Franciscan Friary-one in Italy the other in Denmark-have been studied and sampled for trace element analysis. This selection of individuals allows a comparison of the trace element inventory of members of noble families against friars and townspeople, as well as a comparison between two very similar situations in Denmark and Italy. The relevance of this study is to see if and how differences in social status, and therefore likely differences in dietary habits, are reflected in the trace element chemistry of the bones. Samples of cortical and trabecular tissues have been procured from a long bone, preferentially the femur. The samples have been thoroughly decontaminated. 87 samples from 69 individuals have been analysed for Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Sr, Ba, and Pb by ICP-MS and Hg by CV-AAS. Sex and age at death have been established by anthropological analysis for all members of the two noble families. We find systematic differences between the noble family members and the friars (or townspeople) in both Italy and Denmark. The noble families are in both cases low in Sr and Ba compared to the friars and townspeople, which is interpreted as a dietary signal resulting from higher meat consumption than in the comparative groups. Lead concentrations are found to be higher in the noble family members than in the comparative groups, and the Pb concentration seems to increase with age in the Italian noble family, where both young and middle-aged individuals were investigated. Mercury concentrations are higher in some of the Italian noble family members compared to friars and townspeople; whereas in Denmark it seems that Hg was equally available to the noble family members and the friars alike. This is the first comprehensive and comparative study of post-medieval noble families in Denmark and Italy. The results show that there are distinct similarities in the trace element distribution patterns in the noble family members irrespective of country, which is tentatively suggested to be due to their higher social status.

show abstract

“…Third, an evolutionary perspective suggests that agency does not lead predictably to adaptive, competent or functional‐rational solutions. Internal selection creates much that we find useful, but also much individual error and collective harm, from medieval witch‐hunts to the use of lead‐based make‐up by Edo‐period Samurai women which made their infants sick (Nakashima, Matsuno, Matsushita & Matsushita, ), or to the financial collapse of 2008. Moreover, because variable selection criteria can lead to very different utility judgments between individuals, and because human societies are not uniform cultural populations, gains by one group can inflict losses on others, and these consequences are not contiguous to differences in genetic fitness or contributions to collective efforts.…”

Section: Toward An Evolutionary Study Of Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Contingency, novelty and choice. Cultural evolution as internal selection

Baldus

2014

J Theory Soc Behav

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sociological, economic and evolutionary paradigms of human agency have often seen social agents either as the rational controllers of their fate or as marionettes on the strings of historical, functional or adaptive necessity. They found it therefore difficult to account for the variability, intentionality and creativity of human behaviour and for its frequently redundant or harmful results. This paper argues that human agency is a product of evolution, but that genetic variation and inheritance can only provide a limited explanation of its complex nature. The primary evolutionary problem which human agents face while they are alive is not to adapt to stable environments, but to respond flexibly and creatively to a contingent, uncertain world. Variation and selection therefore take two connected but distinct forms, one external, genetic, and inherited across generations, the other internal and cognitive, and operating during the lifetime of individuals. An examination of this lived part of evolution provides a better understanding of key properties of agency.

show abstract

Severe lead contamination among children of samurai families in Edo period Japan

Cited by 13 publications

References 29 publications

Trace element distribution in human cortical bone microstructure: the potential for unravelling diet and social status in archaeological bones

Trace element distribution in human cortical bone microstructure: the potential for unravelling diet and social status in archaeological bones

Comparison of trace element chemistry in human bones interred in two private chapels attached to Franciscan friaries in Italy and Denmark: an investigation of social stratification in two medieval and post-medieval societies

Contingency, novelty and choice. Cultural evolution as internal selection

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About