Satellite view of the Atacama Desert along the coast. Wikimedia Commons [chileatacama by pdmclerran@yahoo.com, on Flickr]
Posted on 04/04/2015 6:22:45 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Much of a Pre-Columbian population in ancient Chile was poisoned by arsenic, say researchers.
According to a recent study conducted by Jaime Swift of the Australian National University and colleagues from several other institutions in Australia and Chile, a significant part of a pre-Columbian population in northern Chile suffered from slow poisoning due to the intake of arsenic from water sources.
The researchers performed plasma mass spectrometry trace element analysis of human bone and tooth samples from 21 burials excavated at the site of Caleta Vitor on the Pacific coast of northern Chile, a part of the ultra-dry Atacama Desert region. Their tests showed that "the pre-Columbian inhabitants were exposed to elevated levels of arsenic where one third of the sample population had accumulated levels in their skeletal system indicative of chronic poisoning."
The time period for sampling spanned c. 3867 to 474 cal BP and included all major cultural periods in the region, showing that the population was exposed to a long-term continuing risk of arsenic poisoning over several millennia.
"Numerous factors may have partially contributed to the population's inferred poisoning, due to the complex interaction of various environmental sources of arsenic and human behaviours," wrote the researchers in the report abstract. "Increased exposure to arsenic could relate to climatic variability influencing sources of drinking water or anthropogenic activities such as mining and metallurgy or dietary changes associated with agriculture. Assessment of these potential sources of arsenic toxication, including evaluation of modern environmental data from the region, suggests contaminated drinking water was the most likely cause of arseniasis."
(Excerpt) Read more at popular-archaeology.com ...
Satellite view of the Atacama Desert along the coast. Wikimedia Commons [chileatacama by pdmclerran@yahoo.com, on Flickr]
AGW? Or Bush’s Fault? Or Both?
For a change, they appear to be noting that the climate change is natural; the only human activities that may have boosted the arsenic in the diet was agriculture (which figures) and mining (which would have to mean, agriculture or drinking water as the medium of delivery).
They should have stuck with bottled water...
Serves ‘em right, digging up Gaia and looting her treasures just to EAT! How dare they? :-)
I would think a volcanic eruption upstream could contaminate rivers and streams with high levels of arsenic.
That would also mean the rivers and streams were probably nearly dead for a long time, but naturally recovered.
A great story about the resilience of life on earth.
Worthless article. They must be doing a TV documentary and don’t want to disclose the cause. All I got was that just randomly over a few generations, there was too much arsenic in the water. Hope its not true now, I had chilean wine for dinner yesterday.
Or as “Ancient Astronaut Theorists believe.”
So when is Rio Tinto going to be indicted for going back in time and poisoning Chile?
But..but...this can’t be! Those were Native, non-white people. Everyone knows they lived in Harmony with Mother Earth. Mother Earth would never, ever cause harm to such peaceful, Nature loving souls.
Well, that would explain the well preserved mummies.............
Ah...they may have been non-white, but lately Gaia has been upset with ALL homo-sapiens, regardless of color.
Same thing is happening in Bangladesh today. The ground water is high in arsenic.
Having been all over Northern Chile and the Atacama, I can assure you, there are no rivers and streams there, except when they get a 10” rain once every 500 years.
What is causing the problem in Bangladesh?
Also, they get hit with big storms and flooding a lot. Wouldn’t that tend to wash out contaminants?
Arsenic is associated with copper ore which exists in substantial quantities in Chile.
Root cause? Dunno, run off from the Himalayas, plate tectonics, mineral concentration in hot underground waters that migrate closer to the surface and are tapped as well water?
What did you eat for dinner?
It's Always Something (IAS)
Detritus From The Gold Rush Is Heading Toward America’s Food Basket
I've also read recently that the mercury levels in Yellowfin Tuna has increased at the rate of 3.8% per year since 1998.
Here:
Shrimp and grits.
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