Chapter 2 - A Brief Early History of Lead as an Evolving Global Pollutant and Toxicant

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter provides a brief early history of lead (Pb) as an evolving global pollutant and toxicant. The earliest reported use of lead as the metal itself, based on a surviving artifact of early civilizations, is that of a lead statue unearthed in Turkey and dated to 6500 Before the Common Era (BCE). This age estimate pushes back the introduction and early adoption of the metallurgical process of cupellation for ore smelting. The available records indicate that early lead metallurgy included the use of crude smelting processes to liberate lead but was mainly used to separate lead from more desired metals, particularly silver, well before the Common Era (CE). By the time of the Greco-Roman era, cupellation smelting of lead ores to recover both their lead and silver contents apparently was a widely exploited process. It is mentioned that the early smelting technology was crude and inefficient, so only ores of relatively high lead content like those in Britain were of interest or value. The chapter further describes how lead contamination of the early human environment produces lead exposures at toxic levels. It provides a historical overview of lead uses and exposure sources that were widespread in Greco-Roman times and that continued through recent times.