didn't rome fall partially due to lead poisoning? people likely breathed in more particulate matter from living in huts, caves, buildings using wood to cook and heat than they did in industrial england, even if they lived in rural areas, especially in the winter.

smelting metals, especially tin, copper, lead ,silver and gold and all the accompanying metals including manganese must have created enough air pollution to cause some pd in miners at least a 1000 years ago? the ancient europeans, asians, africans and south americans did a lot of mining, ate a lot of rotten food, etc. i imagine many of the pigments used by the great masters weren't all that safe. what about all those fireplaces in english castles?

what was the avg lifespan in europe prior to the development of water sanitation and antibiotics?

just playing devil's advocate.