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toilets

The starboard toilet on the beakhead of the warship Vasa, displayed in the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. (Peter Isotalo / CC by SA 3.0)

Toilets on a Pirate Ship and the Sorry Guy Who Cleaned Them... (Video)

Sanitation aboard a pirate ship was far from ideal. Bathing was a rarity, and clean clothes were scarce, often stolen from other ships. Hot baths were a luxury reserved for the sick, usually onshore...
Ancient toilet found in Jerusalem. Source: Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Poop From Biblical-Era Toilets in Jerusalem Reveals Oldest Dysentery Evidence

By examining ancient poop from Biblical-era toilets in Jerusalem, a new study has revealed that these ancient toilets contain the oldest evidence ever found of a microscopic parasite known to cause...
Roman bathhouse. Source: 4K_Heaven / Adobe Stock.

Keeping it Clean: A Look at Ancient Hygiene Practices (Video)

From the Sumerians and Egyptians to the Victorians and beyond, humans have been striving to keep their surroundings clean since they first settled down and built permanent homes. Before civilization...
Broken parts of the flush toilet unearthed from the Yueyang archaeological site in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. Source: China Daily.

The Royal Flush: 2,400-Year-Old Toilet Used by Emperors Unearthed in China

Archaeologists have unearthed the bottom half of a manual flush toilet that dates back 2,400 years in the Yueyang archaeological site in China’s Shaanxi province. Yueyang served as a capital city...
Hygiene has evolved over the years, but we’ve been taking showers for centuries. Women bathing in a public gymnasium; Gouache painting based on an ancient Greek vase. Source: Wellcome Collection / Public Domain

Hygiene Through History: How Filthy Were Our Ancient Ancestors?

People in the past have a reputation for being dirty and unhygienic, but is this true? While many aspects of personal hygiene have evolved over the centuries, others have remained surprisingly...
An empty toilet paper holder! Source: Lasse Kristensen / Adobe Stock

No Toilet Paper! Do Any of these Ancient Methods Work for You?

Can you imagine waking up in a world with no toilet paper? What would you use? Can you imagine what people did before toilet paper became so ubiquitous? Toilet paper is among the most essential...
While today we flush our urine away without giving it a second thought, in ancient times it was considered a valuable commodity. Urine contains a wide array of important minerals and chemicals such as phosphorus and potassium. The Romans believed that urine – both human and animal - would make their teeth whiter and keep them from decaying, so they used it as a mouthwash and mixed it with pummis to make toothpaste. In fact, urine was so effective that it was used in toothpastes and mouthwashes up until the

Ancient Romans Brushed Their Teeth with Urine

While today we flush our urine away without giving it a second thought, in ancient times it was considered a valuable commodity. Urine contains a wide array of important minerals and chemicals such...
Scientists Dig for Answers in Medieval Loos!

Scientists Dig for Answers in Medieval Loos!

A medieval toilet may not be the first place you’d want to dig as an archaeologist, but old latrines are surprisingly good at revealing secrets to life in the Middle Ages! A team of scientists...
Ruin of a second-century public toilet in Roman Ostia.

Rats, Exploding Toilet Seats and Demons of the Deep: The Hazards of Roman Sewers

I have spent an awful lot of time in Roman sewers – enough to earn me the nickname Queen of Latrines from my friends. The Etruscans laid the first underground sewers in the city of Rome around 500 BC...