"A 2 to 3 points lower IQ doesn't sound like much, but when you apply that to the entire European population, it's quite a lot."

DRI scientists analyzed Arctic ice core records to reconstruct historical atmospheric lead pollution from Ancient Rome, uncovering a link between lead exposure and cognitive decline. Lead exposure is a significant public health concern,

Using modern evidence of lead pollution and its health effects, the international team calculates that lead exposure in the Roman golden age could have caused a population-wide drop in IQ of about 2.5 to 3 points per person. And that goes for most of the Roman Empire, including its provinces of Gaul, northwestern Africa, Iberia, and Britannia.

New research finds that pollution from ancient silver and lead mining during the Roman Empire resulted in lowered intelligence across Europe.

Lead pollution in ancient Rome likely dropped the average IQ, a study found. The research is based on an analysis of ice cores extracted from Greenland.

Lead pollution in ancient Rome may have dropped the average IQ by up to three points, a new study has found. In the paper, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it was concluded that the levels of background lead pollution would have been so severe at the time that they would have affected the health of much of Europe.

A study analyzing Arctic ice cores reveals that lead pollution during the Roman Empire's height contributed to an estimated 2-3 point IQ decline across Europe.

It was during the period known as the Pax Romana, a time of stability in the Roman Empire that lasted for about two hundred years between 27 BC and 192 AD. Mining and smelting operations throughout Europe were likely a a source of lead contamination,

Researchers measured lead pollution and its impact on human health through Arctic ice-core samples. View on euronews