The reality of pollution during England’s Industrial Revolution was far more widespread than the classic image of soot-choked cities, according to a new study.
By analysing the bones of 94 individuals from the 18th and 19th centuries, researchers have uncovered a hidden spectrum of toxic exposure that blurs the line between polluted urban centers and supposedly idyllic rural villages.
The bones were selected from two English towns, the industrial South Shields, a hub for coal mining and shipbuilding, and the more agrarian market town of Barton-upon-Humber.
The team then measured the lifetime accumulation of three major industrial pollutants – arsenic, barium, and lead – in their bones.
Contrary to expectations, the findings reveal that while individuals from industrial South Shields showed significantly higher levels of arsenic and barium, those from rural Barton-upon-Humber had surprisingly higher concentrations of lead in their skeletons.
The sources of exposure were numerous and often invisible. In South Shields, arsenic and barium likely came from chemical works, metal smelting and coal processing. In Barton-upon-Humber, the lead signature suggests exposure from burning coal mined elsewhere, or from consumer goods like lead-glazed pottery, paints and cosmetics that were more accessible to populations with disposable income.
The research also employed lead isotope analysis, which acts like a chemical fingerprint. Corresponding author Ali Pourmand, a professor of geosciences at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science, explained: ‘One of our main challenges was to disentangle the signature of heavy metals that were accumulated during the lifetime of an individual from potential contamination caused after burial when the bones came into contact with the soil over centuries.’
This was accomplished by contrasting the isotopic signature of lead) and strontium in soil from the burial locations and for all 94 individuals using the multi-collector mass spectrometer at the Neptune Isotope Lab at the Rosenstiel School.
‘The isotopic composition of burial soil and the bone samples were significantly different,’ Pourmand explained. ‘This provided the crucial evidence we needed to argue the heavy metals measured in the bones were the result of lived experiences of those individuals.’
The isotopic signatures in the bones matched geological samples from mining regions across the United Kingdom and Ireland, pointing to a vast, interconnected network of pollution. Wind trajectory models further support that airborne particulates from distant industrial cities could easily reach both towns within hours.
This ‘biochemical biography’ of individuals shows that the effect of industrialisation was ubiquitous. The pollutants of the era seeped into every environment, embodying a silent, widespread health crisis that impacted health across the whole country, not just the factory cities.
The original research can be read here.
Photo: Marco Livi
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