World’s First Polluted River Discovered By Scientists

World’s First Polluted River Discovered By Scientists Scientists have discovered the world’s first polluted river, contaminated about 7,000 years ago by Neolithic humans who may have been producing copper metals from ores. Professor Russell Adams from the University of Waterloo in Canada, and colleagues found evidence of early pollution caused by the combustion of copper in the now dry

riverbed in the Wadi Faynan region of southern Jordan. The findings revealed that it was Chalcolithic or Copper Age , when humans began moving from making tools out of stones to making tools out of metal.

iv. These populations were experimenting with fire, experimenting with pottery and experimenting with copper ores, and all three of these components are part of the early production of copper metals from ores.

v. The study pointed that the pollution from thousands of years of copper mining and production must have led to widespread health problems in ancient populations like infertility, malformations and premature death.