Correspondence Comment on “History and Environmental Impact of Mining Activity in Celtic Aeduan Territory Recorded in a Peat Bog (Morvan, France)” The recent article by Monna et al. (1) illustrates the application of archaeological methods to the investigation of environmental pollution. Monna et al. (1) have conducted insightful research on ancient lead poisoning of a French peat bog by initially following clues from “historical theories” and ancient Roman reports of lead smelting activities in the area. This evolving cooperation between chemists, archeologists, and historians to locate and analyze early human sites of industrial activity can provide information on both ancient technological methods and the continuing effects of that activity. We draw attention here to an important early reference. In the first volume of his autobiography (2), the English author Sir Osbert Sitwell states: “To show the influence of past times upon the present, when my father [Sir George Sitwell] in 1915 cut down a wood which belonged to him, in order to turn it into arable, it was found to be bellund, the reason for this being that the Romans had established a place for the smelting of lead there, bringing the metal from a mine near Chatsworth.” Sir Osbert explains that “bellund” is local dialect for a field that “suffers from lead poisoning”. It is not revealed how Sir George knew that a Roman smelter had been located in the vicinity nor what evidence the locals had of reduced soil fertility arising from lead contamination, but the Sitwell family have traditionally taken a scholarly interest in the history of the counties and country-folk surrounding their family home, Renishaw Hall, near Chesterfield, England. We suggest that in such a heavily mined area as Chesterfield it is perhaps to be expected that over the millennia both “country gentlemen” and “villagers” alike acquired firsthand knowledge of the deleterious effects of lead smelting. But two aspects of Sir Osbert’s report are extraordinary.
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First, that the local people knew of the extremely enduring nature of lead contamination in soil, as confirmed by the research of Monna et al. (1). Second, that the local people attributed to the organically bound lead a specific biotoxicity to plant species. In this case, it appears that propagation of broad-leafed trees was not inhibited, as the area had become forested over the years, but that the soil was inhibitory to species of monocotyledonous grains or grasses that constitute arable land in the district. “Environmental archeology” is surely securing itself a place as an important modern scientific discipline, but it seemingly should also include an element of “bio-ethnology”, which takes account of local oral traditions. How will we learn of scientific knowledge hidden in local communities if no one bothers to ask them?
Literature Cited (1) Monna, F.; Petit, C.; Guillaumet, J.-P.; Jouffroy-Bapicot, I.; Blanchot, C.; Dominik, J.; Losno, R.; Richard, H.; Le´veˆque, J.; Chateau, C. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2004, 38 (3), 665-673. (2) Sitwell, O. Left Hand Right Hand! Reprint Society edition; Camelot Press: London and Southampton, 1946; footnoted p 112.
Gavin P. Duley* School of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources Management Mary White College University of New England Armidale, New South Wales 2351, Australia
John A. Duley Department of Chemical Pathology Mater Misericordiae Hospital Brisbane, Queensland 4101, Australia ES049865T
10.1021/es049865t CCC: $27.50
2004 American Chemical Society Published on Web 03/09/2004
