Mario Novak

MARIO NOVAK, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia, was awarded funding in April 2023 to aid research on “Heavy Metal: Rural and Urban Lead Exposure during the Roman Empire.” The role of lead poisoning in the fall of the Roman Empire has been theorized since at least the 1950’s. The effects of lead poisoning are well-known: decreased fertility for males and females, higher rates of miscarriage, failure to thrive in infants, and increased rates of pathological changes consistent with metabolic disease (rickets and scurvy). In this project, we selected a single region in Croatia (Dalmatia) and conducted an analysis of several cemeteries with multiple approaches: bioarchaeological analysis of the bony pathologies and age at death of individuals and chemical analysis to determine the levels of lead that have been deposited within teeth through everyday use of ceramics, lead plumbing pipes, and consumption in the diet. We’re focused on juveniles (under the age of 20 years) to correlate age at death and pathological conditions with lead concentrations. Most of the analyzed individuals are very young, under 6 months of age. As lead can cross the placental barrier, the results of this analysis give a view into maternal health and lead exposure. Overall, this analysis utilizes established bioarchaeological and chemical approaches to provide a definitive answer to the question of whether lead impacted population health within the region of Dalmatia.