Questions of Doom: Can Archaeology Be Hazardous to Your Health?

Welcome to Questions of Doom. In this series, we answer your questions about Archaeology and our shared heritage.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Archaeology
• excavation
• health
• hazard
• biohazard
• trench
• falling
• collapse
• squash
• jumpers
• beards
• pit
• accident
• arsenic
• mercury
• quick silver
• digger
• JCB
• bucket
• well
• Romano-British
• votive
• Offering

[JustaEropeanGuy]

Of course it can be hazardous to your health: Nazis shooting, rolling boulders, crazy murderous locals, snake pits, booby traps and all that...

Serious question: Have there been cases of actual booby traps found or even functioning booby traps?

[Archaeos0up]

@JustaEropeanGuy That is an excellent question! It's one of clichés which we take for granted in the movies, but has it ever happened. I honestly don't know!

I shall get back to you!

[ridgetownpimp]

I would think repetitive stress injuries would be a real concern too, not to mention archaeology must be hell for your knees...

[x8Charlotte8x]

I was once on a test pit in a private garden, as part of a larger dig, and we found buckets and buckets of asbestos pieces. We were fine, but I suppose that if the asbestos had been really crumbly, and we had not stopped digging soon after, it may have been a problem.

[anubis2814]

@ridgetownpimp My Gf archyfantasies, took me to a volunteer dig once. You lay on your stomach for the most part, trying not to break down the walls of your square. They get amazing upper body strength. 

[FredricF]

I must say I question your Mercury story a little. The specific weight of mercury is over 13 Kg per liter. I probably would be impossible to stand in it up to your waist, you would simply float, and if you succeeded your feet would be squashed (well, almost).

And most stuff like stones and other metals objects would float on top of the mercury.

[apeek7]

There is a wonderful book, "Throw Me A Bone" by Eleanor Lothrop, which is the narrative of being the wife of an archeologist. In the book the natives near a dig became unhappy with the diggers and problems ensued…

[colourmegone]

The arsenic embalming gives me pause for thought. I wonder if anyone was ever wrongly prosecuted for murder as a result. I know that the Victorians used to call arsenic "inheritance powder" because it was easy to get hold of and to administer in small doses over time. Then someone discovered a method to detect the chemical in the hair of a corpse and there followed a rash of prosecutions instigated by irate family members.

[MacNutz2]

Great stories. I'm surprised to hear about the quantity of mercury thrown into the votive pit. I didn't realize there was so much of it available at the time.

I would not be comfortable digging into a old plague pit either. :):) One can imagine all sorts of dangers for those excavating ruins in the jungle areas of central and South America.