A Roman provincial city and its contamination legacy from artisanal and daily-life activities.

Roman metal use and related extraction activities resulted in heavy metal pollution and contamination, in particular of Pb near ancient mines and harbors, as well as producing a global atmospheric impact. New evidence from ancient Gerasa (Jerash), Jordan, suggests that small-scale but intense Roman,...

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Main Authors: Genevieve Holdridge, Søren M Kristiansen, Gry H Barfod, Tim C Kinnaird, Achim Lichtenberger, Jesper Olsen, Bente Philippsen, Rubina Raja, Ian Simpson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0251923&type=printable
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author Genevieve Holdridge
Søren M Kristiansen
Gry H Barfod
Tim C Kinnaird
Achim Lichtenberger
Jesper Olsen
Bente Philippsen
Rubina Raja
Ian Simpson
author_facet Genevieve Holdridge
Søren M Kristiansen
Gry H Barfod
Tim C Kinnaird
Achim Lichtenberger
Jesper Olsen
Bente Philippsen
Rubina Raja
Ian Simpson
author_sort Genevieve Holdridge
collection DOAJ
description Roman metal use and related extraction activities resulted in heavy metal pollution and contamination, in particular of Pb near ancient mines and harbors, as well as producing a global atmospheric impact. New evidence from ancient Gerasa (Jerash), Jordan, suggests that small-scale but intense Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad period urban, artisanal, and everyday site activities contributed to substantial heavy metal contamination of the city and its hinterland wadi, even though no metal mining took place and hardly any lead water pipes were used. Distribution of heavy metal contaminants, especially Pb, observed in the urban soils and sediments within this ancient city and its hinterland wadi resulted from aeolian, fluvial, cultural and post-depositional processes. These represent the contamination pathways of an ancient city-hinterland setting and reflect long-term anthropogenic legacies at local and regional scales beginning in the Roman period. Thus, urban use and re-use of heavy metal sources should be factored into understanding historical global-scale contaminant distributions.
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publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-42b8a5728a7d47248a961f6eb641e1ed2025-08-20T02:01:00ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01166e025192310.1371/journal.pone.0251923A Roman provincial city and its contamination legacy from artisanal and daily-life activities.Genevieve HoldridgeSøren M KristiansenGry H BarfodTim C KinnairdAchim LichtenbergerJesper OlsenBente PhilippsenRubina RajaIan SimpsonRoman metal use and related extraction activities resulted in heavy metal pollution and contamination, in particular of Pb near ancient mines and harbors, as well as producing a global atmospheric impact. New evidence from ancient Gerasa (Jerash), Jordan, suggests that small-scale but intense Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad period urban, artisanal, and everyday site activities contributed to substantial heavy metal contamination of the city and its hinterland wadi, even though no metal mining took place and hardly any lead water pipes were used. Distribution of heavy metal contaminants, especially Pb, observed in the urban soils and sediments within this ancient city and its hinterland wadi resulted from aeolian, fluvial, cultural and post-depositional processes. These represent the contamination pathways of an ancient city-hinterland setting and reflect long-term anthropogenic legacies at local and regional scales beginning in the Roman period. Thus, urban use and re-use of heavy metal sources should be factored into understanding historical global-scale contaminant distributions.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0251923&type=printable
spellingShingle Genevieve Holdridge
Søren M Kristiansen
Gry H Barfod
Tim C Kinnaird
Achim Lichtenberger
Jesper Olsen
Bente Philippsen
Rubina Raja
Ian Simpson
A Roman provincial city and its contamination legacy from artisanal and daily-life activities.
PLoS ONE
title A Roman provincial city and its contamination legacy from artisanal and daily-life activities.
title_full A Roman provincial city and its contamination legacy from artisanal and daily-life activities.
title_fullStr A Roman provincial city and its contamination legacy from artisanal and daily-life activities.
title_full_unstemmed A Roman provincial city and its contamination legacy from artisanal and daily-life activities.
title_short A Roman provincial city and its contamination legacy from artisanal and daily-life activities.
title_sort roman provincial city and its contamination legacy from artisanal and daily life activities
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0251923&type=printable
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