They also mined by tearing apart mountains, and threw noticeable amounts of lead into the air doing it. > Roman-era mining activities increased atmospheric lea

They also mined by tearing apart mountains, and threw noticeable amounts of lead into the air doing it. > Roman-era mining activities increased atmospheric lead concentrations by at least a factor of 10, polluting air over Europe more heavily and for longer than previously thought, according to a new analysis of ice cores taken from glaciers on France's Mont Blanc. A lot less than modern technology manages, but a lot more than nothing. And that with a much smaller population. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-roman-polluted-european-air-heavily.html https://phys.org/news/2019-05-roman-polluted-european-air-he... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruina_montium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruina_montium