If this Moment of Science were a fairy tale, it might begin, “Once upon a time there was air pollution.” Not because there is no longer air pollution, but because we usually think of industrial air pollution as being a fairly recent problem.
Beginning perhaps with the industrial revolution. However, research has indicated that wide-spread industrial air pollution goes at least as far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Environmental scientist Ingemar Renberg sampled sediments from beneath nineteen Swedish lakes. He discovered that naturally occurring lead concentrations remained fairly constant for many centuries after the lakes were formed about 10,000 years ago.
Then, about 2600 years ago the lead levels in the lakes began to rise. This was when the Greeks began minting silver coins. The silver for the coins was extracted from ore that also contained lead, and the smelting process released lead into the air.
The ancient contamination recorded in the lake sediments increased again about 2000 years ago, when the Romans were smelting lead throughout south and central Europe, releasing even more lead into the air. As the Roman Empire declined so did the lead levels in the Swedish lakes.
如果这期的科学时刻是一个美丽的谎言，那么我们将以“曾经的一段时间没有空气污染。”这段话开始。这并不是指以后将不存在空气污染，而是因为我们经常认为工业空气污染仅仅是最近一段时间的问题。
人们认为空气污染也许是伴随着工业革命而出现。但是，研究已经表明大范围的空气污染可以追溯到古希腊和罗马时代。
环境科学家Ingemar Renberg从瑞典19湖下采集沉淀物。他发现自然发生的凝集物在1万年前这些湖形成之后可以完整的保持几个世纪。
结果显示，大约在2600年前铅的水平在湖中开始上升。这一时期正是古希腊人开始铸造银币的时候。用于制造钱币的银从同样具有铅的矿石中提取，在制造钱币的过程中铅被释放到空气当中。
大约在2000年前存在于湖中沉淀物中的古老污染物水平再一次的升高，那时罗马人正通过南欧和中欧制炼铅，进而释放更多的铅进入空气。伴随着罗马帝国的没落铅的水平在瑞典湖中也随之下降。
(个人能力有限，翻译不好还请见谅！)