Lead and Silver Mining Pollution Records Link to Medieval Coin Production

[PtolemAE]

Science Magazine Volume 368 Issue 6486 Page 19 - April 3, 2020

Fascinating article:

Lead pollution tracks the rise and fall of medieval kings

About new research on history of lead pollution associated with the mining of silver in England in the 12th and 13 centuries and how it tracks silver coin production of English kings. Lead found in ice cores from the Swiss alps varies over time and goes up and down during the rise and fall of English kings as they produced silver coins. Modern technology tracks ancient mining activity related to coin production. Not something you learn about every day. Interesting read.

PtolemAE

[Altamura]

That's interesting, but the connection just to the kings of England is quite close. In the Swiss Alps not only the dust of England came down  . How are they sure that it had been exactly that?

It reminds me a bit on research about medieval metal mining in the Black Forest in the Southwest of Germany. Some years ago they analysed the lead content of the sands in little rivers and creeks. Where it was above normal there had been mining and smelting activities nearby.

Regards

Altamura

[Robert_Brenchley]

An elevated lead content near smelting sites is very easy to understand, but I do wonder how they managed to distinguish English silverworking from continental. That raises another question; how far was the English economy independent from the wider European economy? Did it go up and down in a different way to the economies of, say, France and the Low Countries, or did they fluctuate together?