air pollution history ancientworld.pdf · purity and danger - an analysis of concepts of pollution...
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AIR POLLUTION HISTORYwith some interest in the
ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN
Peter Brimblecombe School of Environmental Sciences
University of East AngliaNorwich NR4 7TJ UK
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PAN’S TRAVAILPAN’S TRAVAILJ. Donald Hughes J. Donald Hughes John Hopkins University Press (1993)John Hopkins University Press (1993)
Overgrazing, deforestation erosionHunting and fishing – depletionIndustrial technology and damageAgricultural declineUrban problems
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AGRICULTURAL DECLINEAGRICULTURAL DECLINE
Earth growing oldRejected by Columella: - fertilizersFallow fieldsErosionClimate change in late Roman timesWater supply
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WATER FOR LARSAWATER FOR LARSAStanley D. Walters, Stanley D. Walters, Yale University Press, 1970Yale University Press, 1970
Southern Iraq: gradual reduction in the
cultivation of salt-sensitive wheat, replaced by salt-tolerant barley vanished by 1700BC
0
500
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2000
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2100BC 2100BC 1700BC
Yei
ld l/
ha
Barley yield
Jacobsen and Adams, Science128, 1252 (1958)
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AIR: LIFE AND DEATHAIR: LIFE AND DEATH
“His smoke went up to the sky…"
Gilgameš, c.1.8.1.4
air related to life… but also to death
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SUMERIAN/BABYLONIANSUMERIAN/BABYLONIANATTITUDES TOWARDS SMOKEATTITUDES TOWARDS SMOKE
my mood and heart. As if during the night watch ……like excrement.…… my countenance like smoke.
A hymn to Inana for Išme-Dagan: c.2.5.4.
Don't cause the oven in a man's house to smoke… it will ruin the bread.
Proverbs: from Nibru: c.6.2.1
Temple of Inana
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RELIGIOUS CONTEXTSRELIGIOUS CONTEXTS
Typically religions see a relation between cleanliness and closelessto GodHence pollution and defilement often linked…
Mary Douglas: Purity and Danger - an analysis of concepts of pollution and taboo (1966)
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VICTORY STELA VICTORY STELA OFOF KING KING PIANKHI
“Ur was a stench to the nose for lack of air to breathe and threw itself on its belly…”
Seige of Hermopolis734 BC
TEXT
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ASTYNOMOI ASTYNOMOI
In Aristotle’s Athenian Politics
- duties of the astymomoiwho are responsible among other things for rubbish to be deposited beyond city walls
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AIR AND HEALTHAIR AND HEALTH
The Hippocratic Corpus had linked air and healthVitruvius on Architecture sought the proper location of dwellings
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SMOKE LIKE WATERSMOKE LIKE WATER
Urban servitudesRoman nuisance law treated neighbourly behaviourSmoke often treated like water… you could no more let water drain across a house than smoke
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LEGISLATING THE URBAN LEGISLATING THE URBAN ENVIRONMENTENVIRONMENT
Sextus Julius Frontinus (Curator Aquarum)Improved Rome's water improved the air (miasmatic theory) Rise of the professional administratorMoving industry (glass making) to suburbs
“Gravioris caeli…”“Infamis aer…”
Frontinus The Aqueducts of Rome
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BLACKENNED BUILDINGSBLACKENNED BUILDINGS
DELICTA MAJORUM.
Your fathers' guilt you still must pay, Till, Roman, you restore each shrine, Each temple, mouldering in decay, And smoke-grimed statue, scarce divine
Odes and Carmen SaeculareHorace
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ROMAN URBAN ENVIRONMENTROMAN URBAN ENVIRONMENT
Seneca and culinary odoursLoss of suntanNoise, traffic &tc….
David Bentley (MoLAS/Peter Froste, 1996
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EASTERN MEDITERRANEANEASTERN MEDITERRANEAN11stst 22ndnd Centuries Centuries
Mishnah Laws called for >50 cubits (~25m) from a polluting source to a neighbour's residence. The prevailing wind to be considered for tanneries. Kilns and furnaces not allowed in Jerusalem to avoid soiling of buildings.
Y. Mamane Atmos Env 21, 1861-1863 (1987)
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RURAL AIR POLLUTIONRURAL AIR POLLUTION
High chimneys required to disperse the air pollutants silver production in Spain (about 7 BC)
Strabo (3.2.8 C142)
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INDOOR POLLUTIONINDOOR POLLUTION
The problem is ancient - weapons of OdysseusConcern is long term e.g. smoky fireplaces
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ANTHRACOSISANTHRACOSISSILICOSISSILICOSIS
Archeological evidence shows air pollutants in the lungs of mummies
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PLEUROSY IN PLEUROSY IN ROMAN TIMESROMAN TIMES
Lancet 356, 1774 (2000)L. Capasso
Rib lesions: evidence of indoor pollution from burning vegetable matter lamp oils at Herculaneum
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SINUSITISSINUSITIS
Common in Saxon times
Often related to lack of chimneys
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CLASSICAL REVIVAL AND EASTERN CLASSICAL REVIVAL AND EASTERN TRADITIONSTRADITIONS
Hippocratic tradition maintained Al-Razi 850-925: Hung meat throughout Bhagdad to assess site of hospitalat Tamĭni of Jerusalem (932-1000) Survival Materials Treating Air Spoilage and Avoiding Dangers of EpidemicsIbm al-Qayyim (-1350) Prophetical Medicine – stench and putrefaction related to disease
Preoccupation with organic contaminants
L Gari, Hamdard 30, 40-48 (1987), also S.K. Hamarneh
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MEDIEVAL ENGLANDMEDIEVAL ENGLAND
Fuedal society at its height in 13th
centuryLondon an active capitalFast developing law under Edward I
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AIR POLLUTION INCIDENTSAIR POLLUTION INCIDENTS
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Inci
dent
sBIG CHANGE LATE 13TH C
Royal proclamations in 1285, 1288, 1306
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FUEL FOR FUEL FOR MAKING CEMENTMAKING CEMENT
Building at Westminster 1253 Henry III ordered oak brushwood
Order of 23 July 1264 “purvey for the King in London… a boat load of sea-coal”
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PRESSURES TO CHANGE FUELPRESSURES TO CHANGE FUEL
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s12
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s12
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s13
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s13
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s13
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penc
eWoodCoal
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POLLUTIONPOLLUTIONSEASONS c1300SEASONS c1300
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J F M A M J J A S O N D
Lime/tonne
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J F M A M J J A S O N D
IncidentsAir pollution incidentsmostly in summer
In 1950s smoke a winterproblem - household heating
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J F M A M J J A S O N D
Smoketoday
Summer building works:extensive production of lime
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POLLUTION SOCIAL CONTEXT c1300POLLUTION SOCIAL CONTEXT c1300
Problems near the River Fleet
Professionals Earl of Lincoln John de Cobbeham
Coal useOdourHang the
polluters?
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CHIMNEY HEIGHTSCHIMNEY HEIGHTS
“… the chimney is lower by 12 feet than it should be…. And the stench of smoke from the sea-coal used in the forge penetrates their hall and chambers so that (earnings drop to a third)”
London Assize of Nuisance (1301-1431)
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BLACKSMITHSBLACKSMITHS
A group of black smiths in 14th
century London thought that sea-coal should not be burnt at night
Cal Early Mayor’s Court Rolls
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Dyers BakersYORK 1381YORK 1381Tanners Butchers
Metal workersPoll Tax establishes industrial locationsExtramuralityAnnual wood use
Chandlers Glaziers, Tilers
OUSE
FOSS
4 ug/m3
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AIR POLLUTION INCIDENTSAIR POLLUTION INCIDENTS
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Inci
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William LAUDWilliam LAUD
Losing you head over air pollutants
boring or brewing
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Sir Sir KenelmeKenelme DIGBYDIGBY “Coal hath… volatile salt very sharp…”dissapated to atoms in smoke
A Discourse on Sympathetic Powder 1658
Acid atoms
Alkaliatoms
Van Dyck
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Margaret CAVENDISH Margaret CAVENDISH --the ornament of Englandthe ornament of England
“Why that a coale should set a house on fireIs, Atomes sharpe are in that coaleentireBeing strong armed with Points, do quite pierce through;Those flat dull Atoms, and their forms undo.”
Poems and Fancies 1653
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John EVELYNJohn EVELYN
Diarist, gardener and environmentalistFumifugium 1661Many schemes to improve London and its air
Robert Walker1648
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John GRAUNT &John GRAUNT &DEATH by FOG DEATH by FOG
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Octobe
r
Nove
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Decem
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GreatFogsFogs
Weekly observations
The winter of 1679
Deaths very high afterweeks of fog
Especially from tisick andamong elderly
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POVERTY POVERTY AND AND POLLUTIONPOLLUTION
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LESSONS FROM HISTORYLESSONS FROM HISTORY
Fuel use/change a dominant control Local nuisance regulation Health dominates over aestheticsProblems emerge, reach some kind of crisis and then decline to be overtaken by others Control measures chimney heights and zoningProfessionalisationNationalisation
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Peter Brimblecombe School of Environmental Sciences
University of East AngliaNorwich NR4 7TJ UK
THE END