In the past few decades, humans around the world have made a lot of effort toward being more environmentally friendly. Whether it is by using more sustainable energy sources, capturing waste from coal-powered plants, engaging in cleaner mining practices, or any number of other things, there is little doubt that we have come a long way (even if we still have a long way to go.).

The assumption by most people is that as you look further back in history, people become less and less concerned about the environment and therefore engage in ‘dirtier’ activities. Many experts have believed, for example, that in the bronze and iron ages, the mining and smelting efforts were extremely dirty and unsafe.

It was assumed that these activities polluted large areas around them, causing environmental problems both for the people living then, and even those living in the regions today.

According to a new study published in Scientific Reports, however, it seems that this may not be the case.

In this study, Professor Erez Ben-Yosef and others from Tel Aviv University performed extensive geochemical surveys at and around copper production sites that are located in Timna Valley, Israel. These mines are known to date back to the 10th century BCE (and may even be the mines used by King Solomon of Biblical fame).

When analyzing the samples they took, it was found that environmental pollution was minimal in the area, even by today’s standards.

In a statement, Ben-Yosef said:

“We inspected two major copper production sites in the Timna Valley, one from the Iron Age and King Solomon’s era and another nearby that is about 1,500 years older. Our study was extensive. We took hundreds of soil samples from both sites for chemical analyses, creating high-resolution maps of heavy metal presence in the region. We found that pollution levels at the Timna copper mining sites are extremely low and confined to the locations of the ancient smelting furnaces.”

They found that other than directly at the smelting sites, they saw levels of pollutants drop below 200 parts per million, which is quite extraordinary.

Ben Yosef explained:

“By comparison, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines industrial areas as safe for workers at 1,200 parts per million and residential areas as safe for children at 200 parts per million.”

This goes against what many previous experts thought about ancient mining and smelting techniques.

The mines where these tests were conducted have not been used by modern miners, which makes this a great place to conduct the analysis.

It is good to see that our ancestors were cleaner than we thought.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about why we should be worried about the leak in the bottom of the ocean.