Bone lead in the prehistoric population of Gran Canaria

The present study determined the lead concentration in bone tissue from 40 prehistoric individuals of Gran Canaria, and in a sample of 19 modern day r esidents of the Canary Islands. Higher bone lead values were observed in th e modern sample (18.65 +/- 12.13 mu g/g dry bone tissue) than in the ancien t sample (4.41 +/- 3.45 mu g/g dry bone tissue, P < 0.001). Older individua ls showed higher bone lead values than younger individuals, but only in the modern group. The correlation between age and bone lead approached statist ical significance (P = 0.058). Low bone lead observed in the prehistoric sa mple suggests a low lead exposure in prehispanic times in Gran Canaria. (C) 1999 wiley-Liss,Inc.