King Solomon’s Mines Did Not Generate The Kind Of Environmental Pollution That We Thought They Did
Many people have assumed that the mining process of ancient copper production associated with the mines of King Solomon left major pollution and harmed the workers involved.
However, that narrative may not be the truth. A new study has provided a different perspective on the history of these mines.
Researchers from Tel Aviv University challenged the original story. Their findings revealed that ancient copper production did not generate as much environmental pollution as previously thought.
“It’s likely that only those working directly at the furnace suffered from inhaling toxic fumes, while just a short distance away, the soil is entirely safe,” said Erez Ben-Yosef, a co-author of the study and an archaeology professor at Tel Aviv University.
In the study, the researchers examined two copper production sites in the Timna Valley of Israel. One was from the Iron Age and the era of King Solomon, while the other was about 1,500 years older. The team gathered hundreds of soil samples for chemical analysis.
They used the results to create high-resolution maps of the presence of local heavy metals. They found extremely low levels of pollution around the copper mining sites, and they were concentrated in places where ancient smelting furnaces used to be.
“For instance, the concentration of lead—the primary pollutant in metal industries—drops to less than 200 parts per million just a few meters from the furnace,” said Ben-Yosef.
“By comparison, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines industrial areas as safe for workers at 1,200 parts per million and residential areas as safe for children at 200 parts per million.”
The heavy metals are also trapped as slag and other industrial waste so they won’t leach out into the environment and cause harm. The findings match those from the Wadi Faynan region of Jordan.
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The skeletons of 36 Iron Age individuals who lived at the Faynan mining site were studied, and only three were found to have any traces of pollution.
Overall, these discoveries rewrite the story of the ancient copper industry generating widespread pollution. Such activities did not have as big of an impact as previously believed. Even when metal production became large-scale and essential to society, copper still did not cause major pollution.
In the 1990s, ancient copper production was presented as the first case of industrial pollution. And so, the word “pollution” became used to describe any leftover remnants of ancient metallurgy, which has made the full impact of such activities unclear.
While the slag heaps at the archaeological sites might be labeled as pollution, they should not be confused with local or global environmental pollution.
As researchers continue to tackle the environmental issues of today, they must be careful not to project modern problems onto the past.
The details of the findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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