The first polluted river? Repeated copper contamination of fluvial sediments associated with Late Neolithic human activity in southern Jordan

Abstract

; Radivojevic et al. 2010;Garfinkel et al. 2014;Golden 2014 2007; McLaren et al. 2004; Hunt et. al. 2004Hunt et. al. , 2007a. 66Stratigraphic and archaeological evidence 2007, sample G). Pollen in most of this unit was attributed by Hunt (2004Hunt ( , 2007 98 to the PPA biozone, with the very top of the unit attributed to the PAP biozone. deposits probably equivalent to the sediments studied in this paper. interbedded lithofacies. They are described and interpreted in Table 2 and shown 193 stratigraphically in Figure S1. Table S3). 228The highest ICP-MS measurement (1459 ppm) was just inside its outcrop. The stratigraphic distribution of lead 266 The distribution of lead at WF5021 (Fig. 3, 5) shows a general coherence between 267 measurements by ICP-MS and pXRF, but lead does not precisely parallel copper. 268The highest concentrations of lead were not in stream-bank locations and the 269 potsherds (NP1-NP3) were not enriched in lead (Fig. 3)

Archaeometric studies on the petroglyphs and rock varnish at Kilwa and Sakaka, northern Saudi Arabia

“…Both sites have unusually high Cu enrichments, with CS showing the highest EF Cu in our entire data set of type I varnishes from arid sites worldwide. This may be related to the presence of numerous copper mining and smelting sites in the Arabah Valley region, upwind from the study region, where mining and smelting activity has been documented from the LN (7000 BP) to medieval Islamic times ( c .1400 CE) (Grattan et al, 2016; Hauptmann, 2007). Widespread pollution in soils and riverbeds has been found in the region (Beherec et al, 2016; Grattan et al, 2016) and may have been transported to the study sites by aeolian dust.…”

River stresses in anthropogenic times: Large-scale global patterns and extended environmental timelines

“…Mineral extraction, with accompanying waste dispersal and downstream contamination, has similarly an extended history. Starting at a small-scale as early as 7000 years ago in the Middle East (Grattan et al, 2016), shifting and expanding to manufacturing areas proximal to the towns of the Industrial Revolution (Meybeck, 2003), and then in the colonial era affecting catchments in the Global South distant from prospering urban manufacturing centres in Europe and North America (Hudson-Edwards et al, 2001).…”

Waste Management at the End of the Stone Age

“…Slag containing excessive amounts of heavy metals contaminated the soil and water and was then consumed by humans. Analyses of skeletal remains with high lead and copper levels have confirmed that the long-term health problems, infertility, and early deaths that struck this community were the result of poisoning (Grattan et al, 2016). Waste water is another important category of waste that is produced, for example, as a result of personal hygiene practices or production methods.…”

“…Mining and processing ore resulted in what was likely one of the earliest major environmental problems nearly 7,000 years ago in southern Jordan (Grattan et al, 2016). Slag containing excessive amounts of heavy metals contaminated the soil and water and was then consumed by humans.…”