Environmental impact of Roman mining and metallurgy and its correlation with the archaeological evidence: A European perspective

The imperial expansion of Rome resulted in an unprecedented intensification of industrial activity, including mining and metallurgical operations. Despite this is a well-known phenomenon, establishing the local narratives behind it is still problematic due to the inherent limitations of mining archaeology and palaeoenvironmental approaches. This paper offers a systematic review of metal palaeopollution records from ice, lake sediment and peat cores located in Europe and Greenland, analysing them together with mining archaeology evidence. Of the 89 cores reviewed within this work, 81 showed a discernible characteristic lead peak in Roman times. Of those, 44 were interpreted to be reflecting a macro-regional (hemispherical) pollution signal, another 22 as resulting from a local pollution source, and six showed contrasting evidence pointing towards both regional and local sources. Some of the local signals were identified by a lead isotope match with local ores, but in more uncertain cases the interplay between palaeoenvironmental and archaeological work was essential in order to attribute a local origin to the detected pollution trend. From this review, we conclude that the principal limitations in mining archaeology (establishing a chronology) and palaeopollution reconstructions (determining a source) can be overcome by considering in conjunction the information provided by both approaches.

Metal pollution. Palaeopollution. Roman mining. Roman period. Lead. Lead isotopes.