The river has been subject to death from ancient people

Scientists found evidence that a river in southern Jordan was poisoned by lead 7,000 years ago by human metallurgy.

The riverbed dried up after 7,000 years of the world's first polluted river.(Photo: University of Waterloo).

Professor Russell Adams of the Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo, Canada and colleagues found evidence of contamination due to copper smelting in the dry river basin of Wadi Faynan province south of Jordan, according to Phys.org. This river has suffered death since the end of the Neolithic period when the community of people here began developing metallurgy by smelting metal .

The study published in the December issue of Science of the Total Environment reveals a turning point in history when people began to shift from making stone tools to metal tools."The community here fumbles with fire, ceramics and copper ore. All of them are part of the process of producing copper from primitive ore," Adams said. "Progress in technology as well as the widespread use of metal in society marks the time of modern world".

Humans made copper 7,000 years ago by mixing graphite and green copper-blue copper ore that existed heavily in Jordan in ceramic or ceramic pots and heated the mixture on fire. This process takes a lot of time and labor. For this reason, new copper plays a central role in human society after thousands of years.

Many objects produced in the early Bronze Age were mainly symbolic and served social functions. Possessing strange and rare objects is a way of expressing individuality. Over time, regional communities are growing and producing copper for expansion. People exploit many mines, build metal furnaces and large-scale production plants around 2,600 BC. " This area is home to the first industrial revolution in the world. This is really an advanced technology center , " Adams said.

But people in the region also pay a heavy price when increasing metal production. Not only polluting rivers, ore slag contains many toxic metals such as copper, lead, zinc, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and thallium from the metal smelting process that begin to accumulate in the soil. Plants absorb these metals, then accumulate in humans and pets such as sheep, goats, and plants.

According to Adams, water and land pollution for thousands of years of copper mining and production undoubtedly causes health problems for ancient people, including infertility, deformity and premature death. Researchers found high levels of copper and lead in human bones dating back to Roman times. Adams' group is trying to expand the analysis of the effects of pollution in the Bronze Age in Faynan.