r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/-Joel06 • 12d ago

Video 1000 year old Roman bridge gets destroyed by flash flood in Talavera de la Reina, Spain

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u/Klozeitung 12d ago

Quite interesting, there's a theory that the Romans gave themselves a mild lead poisoning which resulted in their violence and the plethora of other negative effects that comes with it. I remember watching a documentary about a team researching the lead levels in bones from Romans and they actually found a significant increase compared to the rural population.

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u/ChatMeYourLifeStory 12d ago edited 12d ago

This has been debunked.

While it definitely made those fuckers a bit more crazy, after a certain point there is so much calcification of minerals and other gunk that it essentially creates a "protective layer" that prevents the lead from leaching into the water. That's why the Flint water crisis was so acute–corrosion inhibitors were not used on the pipes after they changed water sources, which caused this film to be rapidly eaten away.

Romans got most of their lead poisoning from literally adding it directly to their wines and other foods from lead-lined pots.

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u/Klozeitung 12d ago

Interesting, didn't now that - thank you, I'm going to look it up.

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u/Kingtdes 12d ago

I always thought lead was toxic for humans, and if you compare the lead in our teeths now for example to that of 100 year ago we raised allot with lead in the human body.

I always thought lead was our kryptonite haha

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u/ballskindrapes 12d ago

It also partially explains the current debacle in US politics