![]() An estimation of PHTE inventories derived from atmospheric deposition suggests that 85% of Pb accumulation occurred before AD 1800, thus highlighting the influence of past local activities to the accumulation of atmospheric contaminants compared to that of more recent periods. Lead isotopes allowed determination of the impact of Pb contamination from significant local mining and metallurgical activities during the Middle Ages. Atmospheric contamination by PHTE occurred throughout 500 BC − AD 500 for lead (Pb) and antimony (Sb), AD 1200–1600 for only Pb, and the last 150 years for Pb, Sb and copper (Cu) combined. We show how long human-environment interaction in mountain environments and pre-industrial anthro-pogenic activities led to PHTE accumulation equal to or even exceeding that of modern times. By combining a range of geochemical and chronological proxies we investigated (1) the importance of PHTE (Potentially Harmful Trace Element) accumulation during pre-industrial times compared to recent accumulation, and (2) the intimate relationship between landscape use and terrestrial PHTE transfers. In this paper we report analyses of four peat cores taken from a mountain valley in the French Pyrenees where ancient metallurgical and agro-pastoral activities have occurred. Such a definition of the base of a formally defined (early) Anthropocene stage/period allows the application of the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) concept by using a point in a physical archive, and, in contrast to the late Anthropocene, includes a significant quantity of anthropogenic strata as evidence for an Anthropocene chronostratigraphic unit. Potential stratigraphic correlations and secondary markers may be present using tephrochronology, climate events, and magnetostratigraphy. These events, as defined by lead enrichment and changes in lead isotope ratios, accompanied by other trace metal enrichments, are found in several types of archives, such as Arctic ice-cores and European peat-bogs, speleothems as well as fluvial, lake and marine records. Another pronounced anthropogenic lead peak is recorded around 2000 BP, during the Roman period. ![]() A first regional lead contamination event in the Northern Hemisphere is recognized during the (Eastern Mediterranean) Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age, between 35 BP, with a peak at around 3000 BP. Here, we examine early significant, synchronous and regional stratigraphic signals indicating an anthropogenic influence as consequences of mining and smelting-related trace metal contamination. ![]() Although a noticeable environmental impact of humans, caused by hunting, the use of fire, forest clearance, animal domestication and agriculture had already occurred in the Neolithic, these early signals are strongly diachronous and localised. This article reviews possible lower boundaries for an early Anthropocene period. 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. ![]() 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. 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. Of the 89 cores reviewed within this work, 81 showed a discernible characteristic lead peak in Roman times. 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. 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. The imperial expansion of Rome resulted in an unprecedented intensification of industrial activity, including mining and metallurgical operations. ![]()
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