700 year old poop barrels still stink

The story says that these were community bathrooms. I suppose that means that they were Male/Female and in the middle of a shopping district, or something like that. Presumably everyone still had an outhouse (or something similar) behind their personal dwelling.

I wonder if this community bathroom contained big baskets of leather, clothing, leaves, etc.. that everyone would reach into to obtain the butt-wipes, or if people just carried around things with them for that purpose?

Thanks to the Original Poster for this story/article. I never think about the day-to-day nuances of history until someone at ATS brings it to our attention.

Those archaeologist must be in a stinky situation.

Anyways, I wonder what the people had for their dinner and diet. See what bacteria they had in their stool and such. It is a going to give a lot infor as to the history of the Dutch.

But really, what stinks.

OatDelphi
I'm not sure if I am more surprised that poop still stinks after 700 years, or that people were actually using latrines that long ago.

You learn something new everyday I guess.

Nice find.

edit on 7-4-2014 by OatDelphi because: (no reason given)

It was that olde rhyme that made us think otherwise. The one that goes
In days of old
When knights were bold
And toilet bowls weren't invented
They left their load
Beside the road
And walked away contented.

Potty humour got to love it

AutumnWitch657

OatDelphi
I'm not sure if I am more surprised that poop still stinks after 700 years, or that people were actually using latrines that long ago.

You learn something new everyday I guess.

Nice find.

edit on 7-4-2014 by OatDelphi because: (no reason given)

It was that olde rhyme that made us think otherwise. The one that goes
In days of old
When knights were bold
And toilet bowls weren't invented
They left their load
Beside the road
And walked away contented.

Potty humour got to love it

LOL. Nice.

Thanks for the chuckle, AutumnWitch.

reply to post by AutumnWitch657

Very nice.


I read it, and it lead me to thinking that sea-fairing explorers in the 1300's probably didn't #2 over the side of the boat. And then that got me thinking about Roman times with public baths and running water, surely they had bathrooms of some sort. And now I think I'm going to try to find the earliest people to use latrine/bathrooms.

Do you see what you started? It's like I'm doing the worst episode of In Search Of.