COLUMBUS, OHIO—Paolo Gabrielli and Lonnie Thompson of The Ohio State University have studied cores of ice taken from Peru’s Quelccaya Ice Cap that record 1,200 years’ worth of wet and dry, dusty seasons. They found antimony, arsenic, bismuth, molybdenum, and lead in the ice dating back to the years before Spanish rule, but in amounts that are likely to coincide with natural contamination sources, such as volcanic eruptions. Much larger quantities of the elements were captured in the seemingly clean ice that dates to just before 1600. Such pollution persisted until the early 1800s, when South American countries declared independence from Spain. Most of the pollution was probably produced in Potosí, located in modern-day Bolivia, where the Spanish mined and refined silver on a large scale by grinding silver ore, which contains more lead than silver, into a powder and mixing it with mercury. “The fact that we can detect pollution in ice from a pristine high-altitude location is indicative of the continental significance of this deposition. Only a significant source of pollution could travel so far, and affect the chemistry of the snow on a remote place like Quelccaya,” Gabrielli said. For another recent discovery in the region, see “Inca Ceremonial Site Uncovered in Peru.”
Colonial-Era Air Quality Recorded in Andean Ice
News February 10, 2015
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2024
A Nightcap for the Ages
Artifacts March/April 2024
Mesolithic Baskets
Features March/April 2024
Freedom Fort
In eighteenth-century Spanish Florida, a militia composed of formerly enslaved Africans fought for their liberty
-
Features January/February 2015
Shipwreck Alley
From wood to steel, from sail to steam, from early pioneers to established industry, the history of the Great Lakes can be found deep beneath Thunder Bay
(Courtesy Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary/NOAA) -
Letter From Cambodia January/February 2015
Storied Landscape
Through centuries—and perhaps even millennia—of cultural, political, and environmental change, Phnom Kulen has retained its central role in the spiritual life of a people
-
Artifacts January/February 2015
Bronze Age Dagger
(Courtesy Anders Rosendahl) -
Digs & Discoveries January/February 2015
The Price of Plunder