• January 10, 2026 | 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM
• Golden Gate 7, Lobby Level

7I: Toxic Waters of Constantinople: A Reassessment of the Sixth Century Demographic Collapse through Lead Contamination in Civic Hydraulic Infrastructure (Workshop)

Organizers:
Rodney D. Reeves, Florida State University, and Elijah Watson, Florida State University

Overview Statement:
Our forum workshop focuses on the theme of how works of civic engineering can also gradually introduce vulnerabilities to public health. The purpose of this workshop is to investigate the elements composing Constantinople’s aqueducts, cisterns, and baths for possible sources of lead contamination as a contributing factor to the precipitous decline of the city’s population by the mid sixth century C.E. (Koç 2020). We argue that chronic, subtle exposure to this toxic element gradually weakened the population over generations prior to a series of disasters under the reign of Justinian. This research is significant to the discipline because it employs an interdisciplinary approach to reassess critical ancient civic infrastructure through a biopolitical lens. We combine geoarchaeological and biological inferences to situate late antique Constantinople within modern conversations about health risks posed by administrative negligence of urban infrastructure. We articulate our findings through a slideshow presentation before breaking out into discussion groups for audience deliberation of evidence. Resulting deliberation will then be shared upon reunion of the breakout groups. Our presentation begins with the establishment of the hydraulic infrastructure of Constantinople and the effects of lead exposure on the human body. This is followed by evidential analysis of the geological region’s volcanic, tectonic, and hydrothermal conditions that are conducive to the deposition of galena ore (lead sulfide), a survey of soil sediments in the Harbor of Theodosius that reveals heightened levels of lead (Erenturk et al. 2018), and early Byzantine medical accounts of conditions associated with lead toxicity such as gout (Di Cosmo 2021) and mood disorders (Laes 2019). We proceed with an examination of the hydraulic mortar used in Constantinopolitan aqueducts and cisterns which contained crushed ceramic as dry aggregate in an area where lead-glazed ceramics were common (Armstrong 2020), followed by an examination of Proconnesian marble columns used extensively within three major subterranean cisterns and how these may have been contaminated with lead geologically and artificially (Balkis & Sari 2004). Finally, we conclude with elucidation on how potential lead concentrations within cisterns would have been higher during times of drought or when the flow of the aqueduct was interrupted. This workshop requires a length of two hours for presentation and discussion.