Vulcan & Mercury

A slightly IE-relevant piece of heavy metal information:

Analyses of the Ötzi the Ice Man show he was contaminated with
copper and (worse) arsenic. For that to have happened, they argue, he
must have been a smith.

Intoxication with arsenic and heavy metals (lead and mercury are
also present in various ores) produce (inter alia) the following
symptoms:

1. (gradual) paralysis

2. irascible and aggressive temper

which compare to the qualities traditionally ascribed to
Hephaistos/Vulcan and Wieland/Völund.

The standard explanation is that cripples worked as smiths since
there was nothing else for them to do. Perhaps we have inverted cause
and effect?

Torsten