Skeletal concentrations of lead, cadmium, zinc, and silver in ancient North American Pecos Indians

Journal Article · Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Environmental Health Perspectives; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.9193217· OSTI ID:6097800

Ericson, J E ^[1]; Smith, D R; Flegal, A R ^[2]

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1. Univ. of California, Irvine (United States)
2. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz (United States)

Bone samples of 14 prehistoric North American Pecos Indians from circa 1400 A.D. were analyzed for lead, cadmium, zinc, and silver by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry to establish the baseline levels of these elements in an ancient North American population. Measurements of outer and inner bone fractions indicate the former were contaminated postmortem for lead, zinc, and cadmium. The contamination-adjusted average level of lead (expressed as the ratio fo atomic lead to atomic calcium) in bones of the Indians was 8.4 {plus minus} 4.4 {times} 10{sup {minus}7}, which was similar to ratios in bones of ancient Peruvians (0.9 to 7.7 {times} 10{sup {minus}7}) and significantly lower than ratios in bones of modern adults in England and the United States (210 to 350 {times} 10{sup {minus}7}). Cadmium concentrations in Pecos Indian bones are also approximately 50-fold lower than those of contemporary humans. These data support earlier findings that most previously reported natural concentrations of lead in human tissues are erroneously high and indicate that natural concentrations of cadmium are also between one and two orders of magnitude lower than contemporary concentrations.

• OSTI ID: 6097800
• Journal Information: Environmental Health Perspectives; (United States), Vol. 93; ISSN 0091-6765
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BONE TISSUES
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
METALS
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
CADMIUM COMPOUNDS
LEAD COMPOUNDS
SILVER COMPOUNDS
SKELETON
ZINC COMPOUNDS
ANIMAL TISSUES
BODY
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CONNECTIVE TISSUE
ELEMENTS
ORGANS
TISSUES
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology