RT Journal Article
T1 Early atmospheric metal pollution provides evidence for Chalcolithic/Bronze Age mining and metallurgy in Southwestern Europe
A1 Martínez Cortizas, Antonio
A1 López Merino, Lourdes
A1 Bindler, Richard
A1 Mighall, Tim
A1 Kylander, Malin E.
K1 Chalcolithic
K1 Ancient metal pollution
K1 Pb isotopes
K1 Peat records
K1 Iberian Peninsula
AB Although archaeological research suggests that mining/metallurgy already started in the Chalcolithic (3rd millennium BC), the earliest atmospheric metal pollution in SW Europe has thus far been dated to ~ 3500–3200 cal. yr. BP in paleo-environmental archives. A low intensity, non-extensive mining/metallurgy and the lack of appropriately located archives may be responsible for this mismatch. We have analysed the older section (> 2100 cal. yr. BP) of a peat record from La Molina (Asturias, Spain), a mire located in the proximity (35–100 km) of mines which were exploited in the Chalcolithic/Bronze Age, with the aim of assessing evidence of this early mining/metallurgy. Analyses included the determination of C as a proxy for organic matter content, lithogenic elements (Si, Al, Ti) as markers of mineral matter, and trace metals (Cr, Cu, Zn, Pb) and stable Pb isotopes as tracers of atmospheric metal pollution
PB Elsevier
SN 0048-9697
YR 2016
FD 2016-03-01
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/16753
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/16753
LA eng
NO Martínez Cortizas, A., López-Merino, L., Bindler, R., Mighall, T., Kylander, M E. (2016) Early atmospheric metal pollution provides evidence for Chalcolithic/Bronze Age mining and metallurgy in Southwestern Europe. Science of the Total Environment, 545: 398-406 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.12.078
NO This work was funded by the projects CGL2010-20672 and HAR2008-06477-C03-03/HIST (Plan Nacional I + D + i, Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad), 10PXIB200182PR (General Directorate of I + D, Xunta de Galicia), and CDS-TCP (CSD2007-00058, Programa Consolider-Ingenio 2010). We are grateful to José Antonio López-Sáez, Fernando Gil Sendino, Carmen Fernández Ochoa and Roberto Zapico for their collaboration and assistance during the fieldwork, to José Rodríguez Racedo for helping with the geochemical analyses, and to Suzanne Leroy for perceptive comments on an earlier draft
DS Minerva
RD 25 abr 2026