This SSHRC-sponsored project is quantifying evidence of vitamin D deficiency in populations from different parts of the Roman Empire and explore reasons for differences identified.

Our research has three linked objectives:

1. To examine the social and cultural factors that might contribute to vitamin D status.

2. To assess the vitamin D status of individuals of differing age, gender, and socio-economic groups, from a range of urban and rural sites from different regions and climates (England, Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal).

3. To consider the possible consequences of Vitamin D deficiency in different groups in the Roman social hierarchy across status and gender boundaries through an integration of paleopathological, funerary (e.g., grave goods) and conventional textual sources.

Ongoing excavations of the Roman period cemetery at Vagnari (1st to 4th centuries AD) in southern Italy have uncovered over 100 burials of the people who lived and worked on this rural Imperial estate.

Research projects on the collection include:

• Analyses of burial practices and distribution of grave goods.
• Skeletal and dental evidence for childhood stress.
• Diet and dental health.
• Breastfeeding, weaning, and childhood health.
• Trauma and markers of occupational stress.
• Geographic origins, genetic diversity, and migration.

An Interdisciplinary Study of Lead Production, Lead Exposure, and Health on an Imperial Roman Estate in Italy

Understanding the history of lead production and contamination

In the Roman world, lead was a valuable and abundant commodity with many uses that are described in ancient written sources and understood through the recovery of artefacts from archaeological sites. The toxicity of lead has led to sensational claims that lead poisoning caused the fall of the Roman Empire through its ubiquitous use in aqueducts, water pipes, household implements and medicine. However, there has been no study of the remains of individuals who are known to have been regularly exposed to lead, as indicated by archaeological evidence for lead production and lead use on the site where they once lived and worked.

What are the long-term consequences of lead in the environment?

The SSHRC-sponsored Deadly Lead project will investigate lead production and exposure among ordinary Romans using excavated artefactual and skeletal material from the Roman rural estate at Vagnari in southern Italy (1st to 4th centuries CE). The research question to be investigated is if, and to what extent, the ancient inhabitants at Vagnari were exposed to lead and lead toxicity through industrial activities and daily living at this site. Further, where did this lead come from and what was it used for? By answering these questions, this study will explore the entire picture of lead production and consumption at Vagnari, ranging from the physical context of manufacturing in the estate village, and the procurement and processing of ores, to the physiological effects of this type of industrial production on the men, women and children living at the site. The results will be of relevance to those who seek to understand this history of lead production, lead contamination, the long-term consequences of lead in the environment, and the associated risks to human health.

Principal Investigator, Dr. Tracy Prowse

Dr. Tracy Prowse (Anthropology) is the Principal Investigator, and is an expert on the study of Roman skeletal material to understand diet, health and mobility in the past. She is investigating the evidence at Vagnari for lead exposure through the quantification of lead found in teeth formed in childhood, while also compiling lead and stable isotope data on mobility. The Co-PI is Dr. Maureen Carroll (Archaeology, University of Sheffield), an expert on Roman death, burial and commemoration, particularly of infants and children. Her contribution to this project is to investigate the function of the lead artefacts from Vagnari and to conduct a study of Roman medical texts pertaining to the health risks of the metal-working industries.

Collaborating for a Brighter World

Research collaborators on this project are: Dr. Jane Evans, an isotope geochemist and the head of the NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory (NIGL) at the British Geological Survey in Nottingham, UK, who will conduct biochemical analysis of the lead artefacts from Vagnari to determine the origins of lead ores and their composition; and Dr. Michael Inskip, Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences program, McMaster University, who is an expert in the analysis of lead isotopes in modern biological tissues.

Learn more about the Vagnari Bioarchaeological Field School

Re-analysis of the bone fragments excavated from the Smith’s Knoll memorial site in Stoney Creek (Ontario) has contributed to on-going research on geographical origins and diet through analysis of stable isotopes, disease and trauma experienced by past groups, and development of techniques used for estimation of age at death. This 19th century sample from the War of 1812 has also been used to evaluate issues linked to disarticulated, fragmented and commingled human remains.