Tooth enamel from the Derbyshire Peak District proves post-Roman lead production began by the mid-seventh century. The findings reveal that child lead exposure in these early mining communities matched or exceeded levels seen in industrialised cities centuries later.
Centuries of mining and the repeated re-smelting of lead waste between the 16th and 19th centuries wiped out much of the physical industrial evidence across central England’s Derbyshire Peak District.
Researchers examined the teeth of the people who lived there.
The study was led by the University of Nottingham in collaboration with the British Geological Survey, the University of Sheffield, York Archaeology, and the Castleton Historical Society. Published in Antiquity, the work traces childhood exposure to lead pollution between about 650 and 1500.
Tooth Enamel Preserves Centuries of Childhood Lead Exposure
Tooth enamel forms during childhood and does not remodel throughout life. By measuring these concentrations, the research team reconstructed centuries of pollution exposure among local populations.
The study analyzed human remains from three distinct cemetery populations in the region: Wigber Low in the Derbyshire White Peak, dating to the seventh century; Joule Yard at Castleton, spanning the seventh to 11th centuries; and Spital Field at Castleton, dating from the 12th to 15th centuries. According to research published by Phys, these combined samples documented how exposure shifted as medieval lead production grew.
Lead author Christopher Loveluck, professor of medieval European archaeology at the University of Nottingham’s Department of Classics and Archaeology, noted the significance of the findings.
The team is delighted to have finally confirmed definitively the date by which the early medieval lead industry was established in the Peak District, by the mid-seventh century A.D., through evidence provided by the people themselves, providing the foundations of western Europe’s largest lead-producing region between the late 12th and 16th centuries.
Christopher Loveluck, professor of medieval European archaeology at the University of Nottingham’s Department of Classics and Archaeology
Derbyshire Mining Communities Match Industrial Cities
Even in the seventh century, lead levels among children in the Derbyshire mining communities matched or exceeded those found in industrialized cities from about 1750 to 1850 when researchers compared the lead levels of the three Peak District cemeteries with populations from across Britain spanning from the Neolithic period through the Industrial Revolution.
Mining and smelting created multiple routes of exposure through contaminated dust, fumes, and materials.
According to Mirage News, This exposure will likely have caused negative health effects in life, and perhaps contributed to higher rates of premature death among women of child-bearing age.
Lead exposure climbed throughout the medieval era, reaching its greatest levels during the late 12th and early 13th centuries. This matches historical records showing that Peak District lead production hit its medieval height at the same time environmental data recorded rising atmospheric lead pollution across Europe.
Generational Stability Found in Hope Valley
Results suggest that mining communities in the region were remarkably stable.
Colin Merrony of the University of Sheffield, whose earlier work identified and excavated key medieval burial sites in the region, explained what the recent excavations in Castleton revealed about daily life.
Our recent excavations in Castleton have provided a lot of new information about the people living in the Hope Valley during the medieval period. We now understand more about the size of the population in the valley, and we can see from the archaeological evidence that these working communities were involved in industries which required hard physical labour. However, this study has enabled us, for the first time, to see beyond this broader understanding and to look more deeply into the profound impact lead production had on individuals and the communities they lived in.
Colin Merrony, University of Sheffield
The new tooth enamel evidence bridges local human histories with environmental signals.