MiddenMonster
Bronze Member
Arsenic in oil, in dirt. If it was without the oil, and still in the presence of iron,it would not last long at all.
I think the half-life of arsenic in soils is about a decade. I also believe it reacts with most, if not all metals. So if this site is Spanish and hundreds of years old, how is arsenic even an issue? In fact, there shouldn't be any toxins that were available at that time that should be an issue. They have all degraded and reacted with other substances and become harmless. So the only thing you would have to worry about are elements. Since this site is pre-radioactive age, enriched uranium and plutonium are out. So I would think that the only things that could even come close to presenting a problem are lead and mercury. And unless you eat or breathe dried dust that contains one of them, you have nothing to worry about. And since mercury was considered valuable for medicinal purposes back then, it's not likely they would have wasted it to dirty up a treasure site. As we've heard endlessly over the past couple of years, you have to go with, The Science. And don't forget that you have to both capitalize it and pause just before saying it. It's the law.