Hadrian’s wall

Scientific research has just revealed that Roman soldiers defending the northern frontier of Britannia faced an invisible enemy perhaps even more debilitating than the tribes beyond Hadrian's Wall. A recent study published in the journal Parasitology shows that garrison troops at Vindolanda fort suffered from chronic intestinal parasites that left them weakened, malnourished, and struggling with persistent diarrhea. Analysis of ancient sewer drains has uncovered evidence of three parasitic infections that wreaked havoc on the digestive systems of Rome's frontier defenders nearly 2,000 years ago. Researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford examined 50 sediment samples collected along a nine-meter latrine drain connected to the third-century bath complex at Vindolanda, the Roman fort located between Carlisle and Corbridge in