Possible Use of Copper Cookware Detected in Bones

ODENSE, DENMARK—According to a statement released by the University of Southern Denmark, chemical analysis of the levels of copper in human bones can indicate the use of copper cookware in the past. Kaare Lund Rasmussen and his colleagues measured the level of copper in 55 skeletons ranging from 200 to 1,200 years old that were recovered from nine cemeteries in rural and urban areas in Denmark and northern Germany. The researchers found high levels of copper in the bones of people who lived in towns during the Viking and medieval periods, which they believe came from copper pots scraped by metal cooking utensils. Acidic foods stored in copper vessels may have absorbed the metal as well, Rasmussen explained. People who lived in rural areas did not ingest enough copper for it to be detectable in their bones, however. Rasmussen suggests country-dwellers were likely to have prepared their food in pots made of other materials, despite the popular historic image of a country kitchen equipped with a copper pot. Rasmussen thinks a copper pot may have been so unusual in rural areas that it may have been talked about and recorded. To read about the unusual diet of wild boars roaming Denmark's Jutland Peninsula some 5,000 years ago, go to "Mild Boars."