Social dynamics of toxic metal industry in medieval Europe (cambridge.org)
35 points by XzetaU8 5 days ago
aeastw 20 minutes ago
I grew up in Hope, near Castleton, and worked for several years as a tour guide at Speedwell Cavern which is a failed lead mine from the 1700's. This was a fascinating read as I knew lots of the later history, but as the article points out, the earlier history is much less well known.
lwhi an hour ago
I wonder what the community vibe would have been like, in these places where lead smelting was so prevalent.
We all (now) know the effects of severe lead poisoning. Delirium and hallucinations, miscarriage and still births, anemia .. what would these forboding circumstances have been attributed to at the time?
Did people understand how hazardous the production of lead was?
defrost 15 minutes ago
The "ancients" (Roman era writers and workers, post Roman UK Peak District lead workers, the Chinese, etc) understood the hazards of acute lead poisoning first hand and often referenced mad hatters, crazy painters, and the symptoms of extreme exposure in literature.
What they seemingly failed to grasp until more recent times was the slow creep of incremental mild exposure:
However, they were so fond of its diverse uses that they minimized the hazards it posed. Romans of yesteryear, like Americans of today, equated limited exposure to lead with limited risk. What they did not realize was that their everyday low-level exposure to the metal rendered them vulnerable to chronic lead poisoning, even while it spared them the full horrors of acute lead poisoning.
hobo123 8 minutes ago
Lead is very flexible and was used even in the last century in Germany for I think roof transitions, fresh water pipes etc. I inherited a nice town house from 1900 which still has lead pipes, but I let them install new ones so the old ones are now dead in the walls as a piece of history.
hobo123 5 minutes ago
camkego 35 minutes ago
I have met and seen multiple individuals handling and strapping exposed lead to pickleball paddles in recent years. It is maddening.
Without education younger people reasonably have little understanding .
People born in the 60s and maybe 70s have the leaded gasoline termination and leaded paint public awareness efforts to inform them. I don’t think people born in the late 90s or early 2000s have been exposed to the news of the risks of lead so much.
MomsAVoxell a minute ago
It’s the same with awareness of nuclear annihilation. Younger generations just don’t seem to understand the threat - whereas generations of the 60’s/70’s/80’s sure do ..
ThrowawayTestr 2 hours ago
I like to fantasize about a TV show where I go to the past and tell famous people about their impact to film their reactions. Not sure if this would be on the list. "We dug up your teeth to measure the lead content and determined you were poor."