New research traces the origins and human impact of Britain's largest medieval lead industry through ancient teeth
Archaeologists have used chemical analysis of ancient tooth enamel to determine when lead production resumed in Britain's Peak District after the Roman era. The study reveals that mining restarted in the mid-seventh century, providing new insights into medieval industrial history.
Why it matters
This research demonstrates how biological archives can fill gaps in the historical record where physical industrial evidence has been destroyed.
edited by Sadie Harley , reviewed by Andrew Zinin
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Add to Preferred Sources Gold-bound beaver-tooth pendant from the Wigber Low cemetery (mid-seventh century). Credit: Sheffield Museums Trust The first definitive evidence of when post-Roman lead production began in one of Europe's largest medieval lead-producing regions, the Derbyshire Peak District in central England, has been uncovered by archaeologists after centuries of mining had erased much of the archaeological evidence. The work has been published in Antiquity .
With Roman and medieval lead waste repeatedly re-smelted during the 16th to 19th centuries, many of the industrial traces archaeologists would normally rely on had disappeared.
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