SM KOLBRENNER, SG SHERIDAN AND DP VAN GERVEN, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Colorado

The goal of this research was to determine patterns of lead concentration in skeletal remains from an ancient, preindustrial population.  Given the strong association between industrialization, rising levels of lead contamination worldwide and the associated adverse effects on human health, interest in preindustrial lead levels as related to global change has increased.  To date, few attempts have successfully examined levels in well-preserved human populations prior to the advent of lead production.

The study population provided an ideal opportunity fir the proposed investigation.  Excavated from the Medieval site of Kulubnarti in Sudan, the remains were naturally mummified in one of the world's driest environments.  Five gram samples were extracted from the femoral midshafts of 31 individuals of both sexes., aged 18 to 51+ years.  Strict adherence to cleanroom procedures was employed throughout the analysis.
 
Bone lead levels accumulate over the course of a lifetime.  Consequently, modern populations experiencing lead exposure show a demonstrable increase with age.  The correlation coefficient between age level for the combined sexes was 0.55 illustrating no comparable increase with age for the Kulubnarti remains.  This interpretation gains further support from a comparison of calcium and lead levels.  Because lead replaces and inhibits the absorption of calcium, populations experiencing lead contamination show reduced bone calcium levels.  In this sample the correlation between calcium and lead is +0.066 demonstrating here has been no replacement of calcium by lead in this population.

As the costs of environmental pollution mount, the search for baselines against which to measure global change intensifies.  Today, metallurgy and the use of leaded fuel has resulted in worldwide global population with virtually no human population exempted.  In this light, ancient remains such as those from Kulubnarti may provide out only record of human biology prior to the advent of wide spread global degradation.