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Archaeologists use metabolites in bones to identify smokers from centuries ago

A team of archaeologists and historians at the University of Leicester used metabolites found in bones from people who lived hundreds of years ago to determine if they had been smokers. In their study published in the journal Science Advances, the group used a new technique to identify smokers who lived in 18th-century England.

Prior research has shown that some smokers from ancient times can be easily identified by the marks left on their teeth by clay pipes—black-stained teeth can also be a strong sign. But as the researchers on this new effort note, not all smokers kept their teeth, which is why historians would like another way to assess remains to determine if individuals smoked when they were alive.

In this new effort, the research team looked to metabolites in bone as a possible resource. Metabolites, as their name suggests, are intermediates or end products of metabolism. Prior research has shown that when tobacco is chewed or smoked, some of the resulting metabolites wind up in the bones. In this new effort, the researchers wondered if it would be possible to find such metabolites in the bones of people who lived and died in 18th-century England.

The team first had to determine what such metabolites might look like. To that end, they compared the chemical composition of bones of known smokers from the 1700s with the chemical composition of bones from people who lived before tobacco was introduced to England in the 1500s. They found dozens of compounds that appeared to be likely candidates.

They then looked for the compounds in 323 skeletons removed from cemeteries in two English locations; North Lincolnshire and London. They found that smoking was much more pervasive in the region than today—roughly half of all those they studied had been smokers, and they were people at all levels of society, both male and female. The team's findings were surprising because up until now, it was believed that smoking was mostly a male habit.