Historia am biental

Int. J. Environment and Pollution, Vol. 22, No. 6, 2004

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Selections from the history of environmental pollution, with special attention to air pollution. Part 1 L. Makra∗
University of Szeged, Department of Climatology and Landscape Ecology, H-6701 Szeged, PF. 653, Hungary (e-mail: makra@geo.u-szeged.hu)

P. Brimblecombe
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia,Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK (e-mail: p.brimblecombe@uea.ac.uk)
Abstract: Several comprehensive publications have been issued recently on the environmental pollution of past times (e.g. Tylecote, 1976; Nriagu, 1983a; Brimblecombe, 1987a; Goldstein, 1988; Healy, 1988; Brimblecombe and Pfister, 1990; Hughes, 1993; Markham, 1994; Brimblecombe, 1995; Karatzas, 2000, 2001; McNeill, 2001; Mészáros, 2001). The aimof this study is to give an overview of information on the subject – mainly related to ancient times. Keywords: copper mining, copper pollution of the atmosphere, lead mining, lead pollution of teeth, lead pollution of the atmosphere. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Makra, L. and Brimblecombe, P. (2004) ‘Selections from the history of environmental pollution, with specialattention to air pollution’, Int. J. Environment and Pollution, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 641–656. Biographical notes László Makra is an associate professor at the Department of Climatology and Landscape Ecology, University of Szeged, Hungary. He holds a PhD in meteorology, and teaches courses in general meteorology, physical and regional climatology, air pollution, and air quality. His research fields werepreviously analysis of large-scale weather situations over the Carpathian Basin and spatial and temporal teleconnections of the global sea-level pressure field. Recent research interests are local and mesoscale air pollution (urban air pollution, background aerosols) and statistical climatology. He takes part in international research projects: the elemental composition of atmospheric aerosol(Northwestern China, Indonesia, Brazil) and urban air pollution (Germany). Peter Brimblecombe is Professor in Atmospheric Chemistry at the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia. He did a PhD on the aqueous chemistry of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere at the university in Auckland, New Zealand. He maintains an interest in atmospheric sulfur

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Author for correspondence.Copyright © 2004 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

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chemistry, and currently is chiefly concerned with the thermodynamics of the concentrated aqueous aerosol and its effects in the chemistry of polar stratospheric cloud droplets that play a role in ozone depletion. He continues to be interested in long-term changes in urban air pollution and its effects onhealth and buildings. The historical aspects of this work formed the subject of a book, The Big Smoke. His interest in material damage by air pollutants has not been restricted to outdoor environments: he has done some work on the museum atmosphere and has a continuing interest in the process of damage to cultural materials by air pollutants. He has written on the history of acid rain, early airpollution in Manchester, and the influence that urban air pollution had on architecture in late Victorian England. He was appointed senior editor of Atmospheric Environment in 1990.

1

Pollution of the environment in ancient times

Environmental pollution is coeval with the appearance of humans. When Homo sapiens first lighted fire, its smoke provided the first medium of environmentalpollution. The burning of fuels for heating and cooking has contributed to the air pollution of inner spaces. The walls of caves, inhabited several thousands of years ago, are covered with thick layers of soot. The presence of smoke must have made breathing difficult and must have irritated the eyes in the confined space as well. Most of the lungs of mummified bodies from the Palaeolithic (however,...