Middle AgesEarly to late medieval · Castleton, Peak District, Derbyshire, United Kingdom
Teeth from Peak District graves show lead mining had restarted by the mid-7th century
Lead locked in childhood tooth enamel dates the revival of one of medieval Europe's largest lead industries, and shows who breathed its fumes.
In brief 3 key points
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- Lead in tooth enamel shows smelting restarted in the Derbyshire Peak District by the mid-7th century AD
- By the mid-8th century, pollution had spread around mining centres such as Castleton
- People buried with weapons and rich goods had lower lead levels than those in plainer graves
Archaeologists have dated the revival of lead production in the Derbyshire Peak District, one of the largest lead-producing regions of medieval Europe, using the teeth of the people who lived there. Lead locked in their tooth enamel shows that mining and smelting had restarted after the end of Roman Britain by the mid-7th century AD.
The study was published in the journal Antiquity on 13 October. It was led by the University of Nottingham with the British Geological Survey, the University of Sheffield, York Archaeology and Castleton Historical Society.
An industry that erased its own past
Lead was mined in the Peak under Roman rule, and large-scale production is known from about AD 80 to 200. After the Roman period it has been assumed that production largely collapsed. Much of the evidence for what came next is gone, because Roman and medieval lead waste was smelted again between the 16th and 19th centuries.
So the team turned to tooth enamel. It forms in childhood and does not change afterwards, so it keeps a permanent record of the lead a person took in while growing up. The researchers used it to reconstruct childhood exposure to lead pollution between about 650 and 1500.
They sampled people from three cemeteries: Wigber Low in the White Peak, from the 7th century; Joule Yard at Castleton, from the 7th to 11th centuries; and Spital Field at Castleton, from the 12th to 15th centuries. All the Castleton individuals were radiocarbon dated.
“The team is delighted to have finally confirmed definitively the date by which the early medieval lead industry was established in the Peak District, by the mid-7th century AD, through evidence provided by the people themselves.”
Christopher Loveluck, University of Nottingham
Children as exposed as in industrial cities
By the mid-8th century, large-scale production had contaminated the wider environment around mining centres such as Castleton. Even in the 7th century, lead levels in children from the Derbyshire mining communities matched or exceeded those of people from industrial cities of about 1750 to 1850.
Exposure was not shared equally. People buried with high-status goods, including weapons, generally had much lower lead levels than those in plainer graves. The researchers suggest that elites controlled or profited from production, while lower-status households did more of the ore processing and smelting, which exposed their children to far more pollution.
Three women in the study died between about 17 and 25 and had high childhood exposure. The link between childhood lead and early death is complex, but the results hint at an association, the team says. Most of the men lived to middle or old age.
“Our results indicate that in these mining communities, girls and boys alike were raised in dangerously polluted home environments.”
Anna Bloxam, co-director of the Castleton excavations
A peak around 1200
Lead levels stayed high through the Middle Ages and peaked in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. That matches tax records showing Peak District production at its medieval height, and a rise in lead pollution recorded in an Alpine ice core. Isotope analysis suggests most of the people studied grew up locally, so mining skills were likely passed down within families.
The results will go on show in a temporary display in the region over the autumn and winter of 2026-27.
Sources (2)
Peer-reviewed paperfrom University of Nottingham, British Geological Survey and University of Sheffield
- Ancient teeth trace the start of medieval lead production in the Peak District (EurekAlert!)
- >Social dynamics of toxic metal industry in medieval... (Antiquity)
Paper: Social dynamics of toxic metal industry in medieval Europe: Peak District lead production, AD 600–1500, Antiquity (2026)
Edited by Guiseppe Weijermars
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