For more than 200,000 years humans were nomadic foragers, living in small groups spread over vast lands. Then, about 10,000 years ago, in several corners of the globe, some people settled down and started farming. Villages sprung up and grew into densely populated cities.
And that’s when poop became a problem. Urbanites could not do their business in discreet spots, sparsely scattered across the landscape. They had to defecate where they ate, slept and lived 24/7, alongside many other folks. We needed a new solution.
But archaeological evidence shows it wasn’t immediate. While chamber pots and cesspits were invented early on, millennia elapsed between the world’s first cities (about 6,500 years ago) and flushing latrines (between 3,000 and 5,200 years ago). Like most ancient technology, toilets seem to have been independently invented in several cultures — and went through many stages of innovation before becoming loos you’d like to use today.
So take a seat — perhaps on your own porcelain throne — and let’s delve into the ancient history of the toilet. It turns out latrines, and their contents, reveal a lot about the people of the past.
