RT Journal Article
T1 Earliest evidence of pollution by heavy metals in archaeological sites
A1 Monge Gómez, Guadalupe
A1 Jiménez Espejo, Francisco J.
A1 García Alix, Antonio
A1 Martínez Ruiz, Francisca
A1 Mattielli, Nadine
A1 Finlayson, Clive
A1 Ohkouchi, Naohiko
A1 Cortés Sánchez, Miguel
A1 Bermúdez de Castro, Jose María
A1 Blasco, Ruth
A1 Rosell, Jordi
A1 Carrión García, José Sebastián
A1 Rodríguez Vidal, Joaquín
A1 Finlayson, Geraldine
AB Homo species were exposed to a new biogeochemical environment when they began to occupycaves. Here we report the first evidence of palaeopollution through geochemical analyses of heavymetals in four renowned archaeological caves of the Iberian Peninsula spanning the last million yearsof human evolution. Heavy metal contents reached high values due to natural (guano deposition) andanthropogenic factors (e.g. combustion) in restricted cave environments. The earliest anthropogenicpollution evidence is related to Neanderthal hearths from Gorham̕s Cave (Gibraltar), being one ofthe first milestones in the so-called “Anthropocene”. According to its heavy metal concentration,these sediments meet the present-day standards of “contaminated soil”. Together with theformer, the Gibraltar Vanguard Cave, shows Zn and Cu pollution ubiquitous across highly anthropiclevels pointing to these elements as potential proxies for human activities. Pb concentrations inMagdalenian and Bronze age levels at El Pirulejo site can be similarly interpreted. Despite these highpollution levels, the contaminated soils might not have posed a major threat to Homo populations.Altogether, the data presented here indicate a long-term exposure of Homo to these elements,via fires, fumes and their ashes, which could have played certain role in environmental-pollutiontolerance, a hitherto neglected influence.
PB Nature Publishing Group
SN 2045-2322
YR 2015
FD 2015
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/11167
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/11167
LA eng
NO Monge, G., Jiménez Espejo, F., García Alix, A., Martínez Ruiz, F., Mattielli, N., Finlayson, C., Ohkouchi, N., Cortés Sánchez, M., Bermúdez de Castro, J.M., Blasco, R., Rosell, J., Carrión García, J.S., Rodríguez Vidal, J., Finlayson, G.: "Earliest evidence of pollution by heavy metals in archaeological sites". Scientific Reports. 5:14252 (2015). DOI: 10.1038/srep14252
NO Francisco J. Jimenez Palacios and to the Analytical Chemistry Department (Sevilla University) are gratefully acknowledged for their help in the use of Carbolite electric oven. A.G.-A. was supported by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship of the 7th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration (European Commission). R.B. is a Beatriu de Pinos-A post-doctoral fellowship recipient (Generalitat de Catalunya and COFUND Marie Curie Actions, EU-FP7). This work also was partially financed by projects 19434/PI/14 Fundacion Seneca, HARP2013-44269P, CGL-BOS-2012-34717, CGL2012-38434-C03-03 and CGL2012-38358 Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, 2014 SGR 900 and 2014/100573 Generalitat de Catalunya-AGAUR, RNM 432 Research Group 179 (Junta de Andalucia) and MEXT-Japan.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026