Ancient Rome’s Collapse Is Written Into Arctic Ice

Scientists have found a record of pollutants from ancient Rome in ice core samples taken from the Arctic.  It seems that ancient gold mining and smelting practices released lead pollutants into the atmosphere.  The amount varied depending on the state of the economy (less during times of recession), and they can correlate historical dates with changes in levels, for example a drop during the Punic Wars and just after the assassination of Julius Caesar.

I was always fascinated with the previously known record of ice cores used to examine climate changes in prehistoric times.  This to me is even more amazing.

www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/scientists-reclaim-the-long-lost-economic-history-of-rome/560339/