Experimental dissolution of lead from bronze vessels and the lead content of human bones from Western Zhou dynasty tombs in Hengshui, Shanxi, China

• In ancient China, only people in high status can use elaborate bronze vessels.
• Using bronze vessel with certain lead content to cook or serve led to lead pollution.
• Lead detection contributes to reconstructing the social structure in ancient China.

Human skeletal lead content has been demonstrated to be related to socioeconomic status, occupation and other social and environmental factors. However, there is minimal research into the lead content found in ancient Chinese human remains.A series of dissolving lead experiments on ancient bronze vessels containing lead revealed that lead contamination occurred when ancient people used lead-rich alloy vessels for cooking, heating and storing food and wine. 65 ancient bone and teeth samples (from occupants of tombs and sacrificed people and dogs of different tombs) excavated from a Western Zhou Period (B.C.1046∼B.C.771) burial area in Hengbei, Jiangxian of Shanxi Provinces were analysed using ICP-MS to determine their lead content.The lead content of teeth and bones from the remains of high-status individuals differs from those of the slaves and servants within the same tombs. In addition, it is observable that differences of bone lead contents are clearly related to social ranks.