Montgomery took lung tissue samples of 15 Egyptian mummies in various regions of Egypt that belonged to people of various social status. It turns out that they matured in a lot of solids - obviously, with polluted air. What is Britain's surprise, their volume was somewhat smaller than the current population of Megapolis. The composition of foreign bodies still to be studied, but it is quite evident that it may be the cause of various disease the ancient Egyptians.
Traces of the disease found in mummies are known. More 1970th experts of the respective universities Mančesterskog described the case of lung disease in mummies 3800 years old. The lungs were scarred, so that their ancient owner probably found it hard to breathe.
Why, in ancient times the air was polluted so badly? Although the population was tens of times fewer than today, one can speak of a strong žaritšima pollution, although the sometimes considered the head of the laboratory of evolutionary Geography Institute of Geography RAN Andrey Velichko.
Study of state of the atmosphere from that era through the chemical analysis shows that global pollution is not any. Unnecessary substances, small gas components - nitrogen oxides, carbon oxides, carbon dioxide had no way to be so. It is possible that there was some kind of local pollution. Because they use at that time the fire stills. If it was located in a close room, you could have the effect of pollution in the lungs. I now can happen too, when working in a dusty room.
One of the factors of negative effects on the environment then it could be soot, is confident the deputy director of the Institute of Physics of the atmosphere RAN Alexander Ginzburg.
Soot was then per capita could be higher than now. Burn are bad fuel - coal, peat, brown coal. I inquired for Urbanistics with great surprise found that in Ancient Rome was a small population density, and not higher than in modern cities. They lived cramped. For them, the environment could be much more harmful, than for city dwellers now.
What exactly are the particles got into the lungs inhabitants of Ancient Egypt, Roger Montgomery hopes to establish with the help of the experiment. Burning various forms of fuel, it will collect the soot and compare them with particles from the mummy. It will also have to compare patterns of sand particles from the ancient tombs of sand due to lung mummy. If it turns out that sand grains in the lungs have a smooth shape, they have it from nature, and if the sharp corners, means that it is a by-product of ancient crafts, be environmentally harmful.
The results of experiments that will illuminate the ecological situation of the ancient world will be announced in the fall.
Interesting as previously notes the teeth were all worn perhaps by the sand included in the diet. What was the source? Egypt 4,000 y ago was temperate, so not much heat needed?
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