History of lead

World lead production peaking in the Roman period and the Industrial Revolution^[1]

Lead (chemical symbol: Pb) is one of the earliest metals worked by humans. It is known to have been smelted as early as the 7th millennium BC and spread widely due to its frequent association with silver ores. Ancient civilizations across the Near East, Mediterranean, Asia, Africa, and the Americas employed lead in construction, tools, currency, cosmetics, warfare, and writing, with production reaching a peak during the Roman Empire. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, lead mining and use expanded in Asia and later revived in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when it was also central to alchemy, printing, architecture, and armaments. The Industrial Revolution marked a new period of large-scale production and widespread exposure, leading to increased recognition of lead’s toxicity and the introduction of public health regulations. In the 20th century, lead was progressively restricted in paints, plumbing, and fuels due to its health impacts, while remaining important in industrial applications such as lead–acid batteries, with global production patterns shifting toward Eastern Europe and Asia.

Prehistory and early history

Metallic lead beads dating back to 7000–6500 BC have been found in Asia Minor and may represent the first example of metal smelting.^[2] At that time, lead had few (if any) applications due to its softness and dull appearance.^[2] The major reason for the spread of lead production was its association with silver, which may be obtained by burning galena (a common lead mineral).^[3] The Ancient Egyptians were the first to use lead minerals in cosmetics, an application that spread to Ancient Greece and beyond;^[4] the Egyptians had used lead for sinkers in fishing nets, glazes, glasses, enamels, ornaments.^[3] Various civilizations of the Fertile Crescent used lead as a writing material, as coins,^[5] and as a construction material.^[3] Lead was used by the ancient Chinese as a stimulant,^[3] as currency,^[6] as contraceptive,^[7] and in chopsticks.^[8] The Indus Valley civilization and the Mesoamericans used it for making amulets;^[3] and the eastern and southern Africans used lead in wire drawing.^[9]

Classical era

Ancient Greek lead sling bullets with a winged thunderbolt molded on one side and the inscription ΔΕΞΑΙ ("take that") on the other side^[10]

Because silver was extensively used as a decorative material and an exchange medium, lead deposits came to be worked in Asia Minor from 3000 BC; later, lead deposits were developed in the Aegean and Laurion.^[11] These three regions collectively dominated production of mined lead until c. 1200 BC.^[12] Beginning c. 2000 BC, the Phoenicians worked deposits in the Iberian peninsula; by 1600 BC, lead mining existed in Cyprus, Greece, and Sardinia.^[13]

Rome's territorial expansion in Europe and across the Mediterranean, and its development of mining, led to it becoming the greatest producer of lead during the classical era, with an estimated annual output peaking at 80,000 tonnes. Like their predecessors, the Romans obtained lead mostly as a by-product of silver smelting.^[1][14] Lead mining occurred in central Europe, Britain, Balkans, Greece, Anatolia, Hispania, the latter accounting for 40% of world production.^[1]

The Lead Plaque of Magliano, Italy, bears an Etruscan inscription from mid-5th century BC.

Lead tablets were commonly used as a material for letters.^[15] Lead coffins, cast in flat sand forms and with interchangeable motifs to suit the faith of the deceased, were used in ancient Judea.^[16] Lead was used to make sling bullets from the 5th century BC. In Roman times, lead sling bullets were amply used, and were effective at a distance of between 100 and 150 meters. The Balearic slingers, used as mercenaries in Carthaginian and Roman armies, were famous for their shooting distance and accuracy.^[17]

Roman lead pipes^[a]

Lead was used for making water pipes in the Roman Empire; the Latin word for the metal, plumbum, is the origin of the English word "plumbing". Its ease of working, its low melting point enabling the easy fabrication of completely waterproof welded joints, and its resistance to corrosion^[18] ensured its widespread use in other applications, including pharmaceuticals, roofing, currency, warfare.^[19][20][21] Writers of the time, such as Cato the Elder, Columella, and Pliny the Elder, recommended lead (and lead-coated) vessels for the preparation of sweeteners and preservatives added to wine and food. The lead conferred an agreeable taste due to the formation of "sugar of lead" (lead(II) acetate), whereas copper vessels imparted a bitter flavor through verdigris formation.^[22]

This metal was by far the most used material in classical antiquity, and it is appropriate to refer to the (Roman) Lead Age. Lead was to the Romans what plastic is to us.

Heinz Eschnauer and Markus Stoeppler
"Wine—An enological specimen bank", 1992^[23]

The Roman author Vitruvius reported the health dangers of lead^[24][25] and modern writers have suggested that lead poisoning played a major role in the decline of the Roman Empire.^[26][27][b] Other researchers have criticized such claims, pointing out, for instance, that not all abdominal pain is caused by lead poisoning.^[29][30] According to archaeological research, Roman lead pipes increased lead levels in tap water but such an effect was "unlikely to have been truly harmful".^[31][32] When lead poisoning did occur, victims were called "saturnine", dark and cynical, after the ghoulish father of the gods, Saturn. By association, lead was considered the father of all metals.^[33] Its status in Roman society was low as it was readily available^[34] and cheap.^[35]

Confusion with tin and antimony

Since the Bronze Age, metallurgists and engineers have understood the difference between rare and valuable tin, essential for alloying with copper to produce tough and corrosion resistant bronze, and 'cheap and cheerful' lead. However, the nomenclature in some languages is similar. Romans called lead plumbum nigrum ("black lead"), and tin plumbum candidum ("bright lead"). The association of lead and tin can be seen in other languages: the word olovo in Czech translates to "lead", but in Russian, its cognate олово (olovo) means "tin".^[36] To add to the confusion, lead bore a close relation to antimony: both elements commonly occur as sulfides (galena and stibnite), often together. Pliny incorrectly wrote that stibnite would give lead on heating, instead of antimony.^[37] In countries such as Turkey and India, the originally Persian name surma (Persian: سرمه) came to refer to either antimony sulfide or lead sulfide,^[38] and in some languages, such as Russian, gave its name to antimony (сурьма).^[39]

Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Elizabeth I of England was commonly depicted with a whitened face. Lead in face whiteners is thought to have contributed to her death.^[40]

Lead mining in Western Europe declined after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, with Al-Andalus being the only region having a significant output.^[41][42] The largest production of lead occurred in South Asia and East Asia, especially China and India, where lead mining grew rapidly.^[42]

In Europe, lead production began to increase in the 11th and 12th centuries, when it was again used for roofing and piping. Starting in the 13th century, lead was used to create stained glass.^[43] In the European and Muslim traditions of alchemy, lead (symbol ♄ in the European tradition)^[44] was considered an impure base metal which, by the separation, purification and balancing of its constituent essences, could be transformed to pure and incorruptible gold.^[45] During the period, lead was used increasingly for adulterating wine. The use of such wine was forbidden for use in Christian rites by a papal bull in 1498, but it continued to be imbibed and resulted in mass poisonings up to the late 18th century.^[41][46] Lead was a key material in parts of the printing press, and lead dust was commonly inhaled by print workers, causing lead poisoning.^[47] Lead also became the chief material for making bullets for firearms: it was cheap, less damaging to iron gun barrels, had a higher density (which allowed for better retention of velocity), and its lower melting point made the production of bullets easier as they could be made using a wood fire.^[48] Lead, in the form of Venetian ceruse, was extensively used in cosmetics by Western European aristocracy as whitened faces were regarded as a sign of modesty.^[49][50] This practice later expanded to white wigs and eyeliners, and only faded out with the French Revolution in the late 18th century. A similar fashion appeared in Japan in the 18th century with the emergence of the geishas, a practice that continued long into the 20th century. The white faces of women "came to represent their feminine virtue as Japanese women",^[51] with lead commonly used in the whitener.^[52]

Outside Europe and Asia

In the New World, lead production was recorded soon after the arrival of European settlers. The earliest record dates to 1621 in the English Colony of Virginia, fourteen years after its foundation.^[53] In Australia, the first mine opened by colonists on the continent was a lead mine, in 1841.^[54] In Africa, lead mining and smelting were known in the Benue Trough^[55] and the lower Congo Basin, where lead was used for trade with Europeans, and as a currency by the 17th century,^[56] well before the scramble for Africa.

Industrial Revolution

Lead mining in the upper Mississippi River region in the United States in 1865

In the second half of the 18th century, Britain, and later continental Europe and the United States, experienced the Industrial Revolution. This was the first time during which lead production rates exceeded those of Rome.^[57] Britain was the leading producer, losing this status by the mid-19th century with the depletion of its mines and the development of lead mining in Germany, Spain, and the United States.^[58] By 1900, the United States was the leader in global lead production, and other non-European nations—Canada, Mexico, and Australia—had begun significant production; production outside Europe exceeded that within.^[59] A great share of the demand for lead came from plumbing and painting—lead paints were in regular use.^[60] At this time, more (working class) people were exposed to the metal and lead poisoning cases escalated. This led to research into the effects of lead intake. Lead was proven to be more dangerous in its fume form than as a solid metal. Lead poisoning and gout were linked; British physician Alfred Baring Garrod noted a third of his gout patients were plumbers and painters. The effects of chronic ingestion of lead, including mental disorders, were also studied in the 19th century. The first laws aimed at decreasing lead poisoning in factories were enacted during the 1870s and 1880s in the United Kingdom.^[60]

Modern era

Promotional poster for Dutch Boy lead paint, United States, 1912

Further evidence of the threat that lead posed to humans was discovered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mechanisms of harm were better understood, lead blindness was documented, and the element was phased out of public use in the United States and Europe. The United Kingdom introduced mandatory factory inspections in 1878 and appointed the first Medical Inspector of Factories in 1898; as a result, a 25-fold decrease in lead poisoning incidents from 1900 to 1944 was reported.^[61] Most European countries banned lead paint—commonly used because of its opacity and water resistance^[62]—for interiors by 1930.^[63]

The last major human exposure to lead was the addition of tetraethyllead to gasoline as an antiknock agent, a practice that originated in the United States in 1921. It was phased out in the United States and the European Union by 2000.^[60]

In the 1970s, the United States and Western European countries introduced legislation to reduce lead air pollution.^[64][65] The impact was significant: while a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States in 1976–1980 showed that 77.8% of the population had elevated blood lead levels, in 1991–1994, a study by the same institute showed the share of people with such high levels dropped to 2.2%.^[66] The main product made of lead by the end of the 20th century was the lead–acid battery.^[67]

From 1960 to 1990, lead output in the Western Bloc grew by about 31%.^[68] The share of the world's lead production by the Eastern Bloc increased from 10% to 30%, from 1950 to 1990, with the Soviet Union being the world's largest producer during the mid-1970s and the 1980s, and China starting major lead production in the late 20th century.^[69] Unlike the European communist countries, China was largely unindustrialized by the mid-20th century; in 2004, China surpassed Australia as the largest producer of lead.^[70] As was the case during European industrialization, lead has had a negative effect on health in China.^[71]

Notes

1. The inscription reads: "Made when the Emperor Vespasian was consul for the ninth term and the Emperor Titus was consul for the seventh term, when Gnaeus Iulius Agricola was imperial governor (of Britain)."
2. The fact that Julius Caesar fathered only one child, as well as the alleged sterility of his successor, Caesar Augustus, have been attributed to lead poisoning.^[28]

References

1. Hong et al. 1994, pp. 1841–1843.
2. Rich 1994, p. 4.
3. Winder 1993b.
4. History of Cosmetics.
5. Chapurukha Kusimba 2017.
6. Yu & Yu 2004, p. 26.
7. Toronto museum explores 2003.
8. Neiburger 2018.
9. Bisson & Vogel 2000, p. 105.
10. Lead sling bullet.
11. Wood, Hsu & Bell 2021.
12. Rich 1994, p. 5.
13. United States Geological Survey 1973.
14. de Callataÿ 2005, pp. 361–372.
15. Ceccarelli 2013, p. 35.
16. Ossuaries and Sarcophagi.
17. Calvo Rebollar 2019, p. 45.
18. Rich 1994, p. 6.
19. Thornton, Rautiu & Brush 2001, pp. 179–184.
20. Bisel & Bisel 2002, pp. 459–460.
21. Retief & Cilliers 2006, pp. 149–151.
22. Grout 2017.
23. Eschnauer & Stoeppler 1992, p. 58.
24. Hodge 1981, pp. 486–491.
25. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (1914) [c. 15 BC]. De architectura. Book 8, 10–11 fulltext.
26. Gilfillan 1965, pp. 53–60.
27. Nriagu 1983, pp. 660–663.
28. Frankenburg 2014, p. 16.
29. Scarborough 1984.
30. Waldron 1985, pp. 107–108.
31. Reddy & Braun 2010, p. 1052.
32. Delile et al. 2014, pp. 6594–6599.
33. Finger 2006, p. 184.
34. Lewis 1985, p. 15.
35. Thornton, Rautiu & Brush 2001, p. 183.
36. Polyanskiy 1986, p. 8.
37. Thomson 1830, p. 74.
38. Oxford English Dictionary, surma.
39. Vasmer 1986–1987, сурьма.
40. Kellett 2012, pp. 106–107.
41. Winder 1993a.
42. Rich 1994, p. 7.
43. Rich 1994, p. 8.
44. Ede & Cormack 2016, p. 54.
45. Cotnoir 2006, p. 35.
46. Samson 1885, p. 388.
47. Sinha et al. 1993.
48. Ramage 1980, p. 8.
49. Tungate 2011, p. 14.
50. Donnelly 2014, pp. 171–172.
51. Ashikari 2003, p. 65.
52. Nakashima et al. 1998, p. 59.
53. Rabinowitz 1995, p. 66.
54. Gill & Libraries Board of South Australia 1974, p. 69.
55. Bisson & Vogel 2000, p. 85.
56. Bisson & Vogel 2000, pp. 131–132.
57. Hong et al. 1994, pp. 1841–43.
58. Lead mining.
59. Rich 1994, p. 11.
60. Riva et al. 2012, pp. 11–16.
61. Hernberg 2000, p. 246.
62. Crow 2007.
63. Markowitz & Rosner 2000, p. 37.
64. More et al. 2017.
65. American Geophysical Union 2017.
66. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1997.
67. Rich 1994, p. 117.
68. Rich 1994, p. 17.
69. Rich 1994, pp. 91–92.
70. United States Geological Survey 2005.
71. Zhang et al. 2012, pp. 2261–2273.

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