The first definitive evidence of when post-Roman lead production began in one of Europe’s largest medieval lead-producing regions, the Derbyshire Peak District in central England, has been uncovered by archaeologists, after centuries of mining had erased much of the archaeological evidence.
With Roman and medieval lead waste repeatedly re-smelted during the 16 th to 19 th centuries, many of the industrial traces archaeologists would normally rely on had disappeared.
The research team, led by the University of Nottingham in collaboration with the British Geological Survey, the University of Sheffield, York Archaeology and Castleton Historical Society, therefore turned to an unexpected archive – the teeth of the people who lived in the Peak District. By analysing chemical signatures preserved in tooth enamel, they were able to reveal when mining and smelting restarted after the end of Roman Britain, during the mid-7 th century, and uncover how this major industry shaped the lives of local communities.
Tooth enamel forms during childhood and does not remodel throughout life, meaning it preserves a permanent record of the lead absorbed during childhood. By measuring lead concentrations locked within enamel, the researchers reconstructed childhood exposure to pollution between c. 650 and 1500.
Lead author, Christopher Loveluck, Professor of Medieval European Archaeology at the University of Nottingham’s Department of Classics and Archaeology, said: “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-7 th century AD, through evidence provided by the people themselves, providing the foundations of western Europe’s largest lead-producing region between the late 12th th and 16 th centuries.”
The study compared the lead levels of three Peak District cemeteries with populations from across Britain, from the Neolithic period through to the Industrial Revolution, showing that even in the 7 th century the lead levels in children among the Derbyshire mining communities were the same, or greater than those from industrialised cities from c. 1750-1850. The research is the first to analyse lead contamination in people who mined and smelted lead in western Europe’s largest medieval lead-producing region.
Lead is a toxic metal that can damage the nervous, renal and reproductive systems. Medieval mining and smelting created multiple routes of exposure through contaminated dust, fumes and materials. By examining lead preserved in tooth enamel, the researchers were able to investigate how exposure varied between individuals and across communities.
The findings provide the first absolute evidence that post-Roman lead production in the Derbyshire Peak District was established by the middle of the 7 th century AD, and show that by the mid-8 th century, large-scale production had contaminated the wider environment around mining centres such as Castleton, in the Peak District.
However, exposure was not experienced equally across society. Individuals buried with high-status grave goods, including weapons, generally had much lower lead concentrations than those from less richly furnished burials. This suggests that elites may have controlled or benefited from lead production, while lower-status households were more directly involved in processing ore and smelting, exposing children within those communities to much higher levels of pollution.
The findings also highlight the potential vulnerability of women within these communities. Three women analysed in the study died between the ages of around 17 and 25 and had elevated childhood lead exposure. While the relationship between childhood lead exposure and premature death remains complex, the results suggest a possible association between high lead burdens and increased health risks. This may have been particularly significant during pregnancy, when lead stored in the body can be released back into the bloodstream.
Dr Anna Bloxam, Co-Director of the Castleton excavations, added: “We know from modern studies that lead can have profoundly harmful effects on the health and development of children: there is no safe level of exposure. All the individuals included in our study survived into adulthood, but they were exposed to lead while they were young and growing. We can tell from their skeletons that most of the men we studied lived until middle or old age, whereas the women primarily died much earlier, in young adulthood.
“Our results indicate that in these mining communities, girls and boys alike were raised in dangerously polluted home environments. This exposure will likely have caused negative health effects in life, and perhaps contributed to higher rates of premature death among women of child-bearing age.”
Lead exposure remained high throughout the medieval period, reaching its greatest levels during the late 12 th and early 13 th centuries. This corresponds with historical records showing that Peak District lead production reached its medieval height, as well as environmental evidence recording rising atmospheric lead pollution across Europe.
Results also suggest that mining communities in the Peak District were remarkably stable. Isotopic analysis indicates that most individuals studied had grown up locally, suggesting that mining and smelting knowledge was passed down through generations rather than relying on large numbers of incoming workers.
The findings also align with wider environmental evidence from across western Europe. Previous studies of Alpine ice cores and sediment cores from river channels, lakes and peat bogs have identified a particular rise in atmospheric lead pollution attributed especially to British production around 1200. The new evidence from human tooth enamel provides a direct link between these environmental signals and the people living and working within one of Europe’s major lead-producing landscapes.
The research builds on decades of archaeological investigation in the Peak District, including earlier work by Colin Merrony at the University of Sheffield, which identified and excavated key medieval burial sites in the region. By analysing human remains from three cemetery populations – Wigber Low in the Derbyshire White Peak, dating to the 7 th century; Joule Yard at Castleton, dating from the 7 th to 11th centuries; and Spital Field at Castleton, dating from the 12 th to 15 th centuries – these combined samples provided a unique record of communities living through the revival and expansion of medieval lead production, allowing researchers to explore how exposure to the industry changed over time.
Colin Merrony of the University of Sheffield, said: “Our recent excavations in Castleton have provided a lot of new information about the people living in the Hope Valley during the medieval period. We now understand more about the size of the population in the valley, and we can see from the archaeological evidence that these working communities were involved in industries which required hard physical labour. However, this study has enabled us, for the first time, to see beyond this broader understanding and to look more deeply into the profound impact lead production had on individuals and the communities they lived in.”
The study brings together archaeology, history, chemistry and environmental science to show how one of Britain’s most significant industrial landscapes developed – and how its effects can still be detected more than a millennium later. The findings relate to medieval mining and smelting between the 7 th and 15 th centuries and do not reflect modern environmental conditions. The legacy of historic mining in the Peak District is now well understood and carefully monitored, with land management, conservation and environmental regulation helping to minimise any risks associated with former mining activity.
The results of this research will form part of the developing medieval archaeological research agenda for the Peak District National Park, funded by Historic England, and will be shared with the public by a temporary display in the region over autumn-winter 2026-27, showcasing the results of this research alongside archaeological discoveries from the excavations in Castleton.
The research was funded and supported by the University of Nottingham , the Peak District National Park Authority , Castleton Historical Society , the University of Sheffield , Sheffield Museums and Historic England .
Antiquity
Experimental study
People
13-Oct-2026