Environmental Investigation of Ancient Bones Basis on the Amount of Lead (Case study: Gohar Tepe)

Lead is a microelement naturally present in trace amount in all biological materials, in soil, water, plants and animals. It has no physiological function in the organism. The main source of lead contamination are smelting works, application of wastewater treatment sludge’s to soil, transportation, rain, snow, hail and other. Lead enters the organism with food and air and tends to accumulate more in hard tissue than in soft tissue. Bone lead levels increase with age at rates dependent on the skeletal site and lead. In this research we analyzed teeth samples of 9 humans of Bronze Age from Gohar Tepe in north of Iran. These samples were analyzed for Lead by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry to establish levels of this element in area. Our objective is to find out if Lead can prevent forming a settlement in site.