title: The Pb isotopic record of historical to modern human lead exposure.
abstract: Human teeth and bones incorporate trace amounts of lead (Pb) from the local environment during growth and remodeling. Anthropogenic activities have caused changes in the natural Pb isotopic background since historical times and this is reflected in the Pb isotopes of historical European teeth. Lead mining and use increased exponentially during the last century and the isotopic compositions of modern human teeth reflect the modern anthropogenic Pb. USA teeth show the most radiogenic Pb and Australian teeth show the least radiogenic Pb, a result of different Pb ores used in the two regions. During the last century the Australian Pb was exported to Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa, resulting in swamping of the local environmental Pb signal by the imported Pb. As a result, the modern human teeth in Europe show a significant drop to lower isotopic values compared with historical times. Similarly, modern human teeth in other regions of the world show similar Pb isotopic ratios to modern European teeth reflecting the Pb imports. The specific pattern of human Pb exposure allows us to use the Pb isotopic signal recorded in the skeleton as a geo-referencing tool. As historical European teeth show a distinct Pb signal, we can identify early European skeletal remains in the New World and likely elsewhere. In modern forensic investigations we can discriminate to some extent Eastern Europeans from Western and Northern Europeans. Australians can be identified to some extent in any region in the world, although there is some overlap with Western European individuals. Lead isotopes can be used to easily identify foreigners in the USA, as modern USA teeth are distinct from any other region of the world. By analogy, USA individuals can be identified virtually in any other region of the world.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, 241 Williamson Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. Electronic address: kamenov@ufl.edu.
authors.forename: George D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Kamenov
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of the Environment, Faculty of Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Brian L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Gulson
mesh_terms: D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis*; D014070:Tooth / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D007854:Lead
keywords: Human Pb exposure; Pb as geo-referencing tool; Pb isotopes in human teeth