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Ancient Latrines
- 1. Anthropology Update Copyright ©2017 W.W. Norton, Inc. Ancient Health • Importance for understanding humanity • Traces today • Bioarchaeology • Molecular anthropology • Archaeology 1
- 2. Anthropology Update Copyright ©2017 W.W. Norton, Inc. Disease Spread in History • Sedentism; urbanism • Sanitation problems • Population movement • Disease communication 2
- 3. Anthropology Update Copyright ©2017 W.W. Norton, Inc. Silk Road Latrines • Silk Road • China to Europe • 2,000–year-old latrine • Chinese liver fluke • 1,500 km away 3
- 4. Anthropology Update Copyright ©2017 W.W. Norton, Inc. Roman Latrines • Ancient Rome • Technological advances • Sanitation did not reduce pathogens Roman Public Toilet 4
- 5. Anthropology Update Copyright ©2017 W.W. Norton, Inc. Big Picture • Human culture and technology shape health • Not always for the better 5
- 6. Anthropology Update Copyright ©2017 W.W. Norton, Inc. Useful Resources • Roman Toilets o Popular Science article:http://www.popsci.com/roman-toilets-made-public-health- worse o The Atlantic article: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/01/ancient- roman-toilets-gross/423072/ • Silk Road Latrine • The Telegraph article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/22/secrets-of- the-silk-road-emerge-from-ancient-latrine-pit-in-chin/ • A–Z index of human diseases: http://www.cdc.gov/diseasesconditions/az/a.html • Crash Course World History about the Silk Road: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfe-eNq-Qyg • Roman Public Sanitation: http://theconversation.com/talking-heads-what-toilets-and- sewers-tell-us-about-ancient-roman-sanitation-50045 • Encyclopedia of Life, Parasites of Humans: http://eol.org/collections/54975 6
- 7. Anthropology Update Copyright ©2017 W.W. Norton, Inc. Image Credits • Slide 2: o (top) Blickwinkel / Alamy Stock Photo o (bottom) The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles • Slide 3: o (left) Sripa B., Kaewkes S., Sithithaworn P., Mairiang E., Laha T., et al. (2007). "Liver Fluke Induces Cholangiocarcinoma". PLoS Medicine 4(7): e201. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040201. CC Attribution 2.5 Generic. o (bottom right) CSP_victorburnside/agefotostock • Slide 4: o Fubar Obfusco/Wikimedia Commons • Slide 5: o CSP_erikdegraaf/agefotostock 7
Editor's Notes
- Slide 1 Studying the health of past human populations is possible by many means Bioarchaeology: Skeletal stress, paleonutrition, paleopathology DNA of living bacteria and parasites (e.g., Plasmodium falciparum); molecular clock Medicinal plant remains, medical equipment (e.g., trephination drills) Important to study Diseases have shaped the human genome Human exposure to disease often follows lines of social inequality Understanding cultural and technological strategies for coping with health challenges
- Slide 2 Human populations have experienced several key demographic transitions in the past several thousand years Agriculture Sedentism Industrialization Colonization Two important influences on disease communication stemming from human organization Sedentism/urbanism Sanitation problems More frequent exposure to diseases; human contact Living near animals Food scarcity/unequal access to adequate foods Population movement/migration Spreads diseases interregionally New exposure among people with no acquired resistance For example, colonization Humans have developed many technological strategies for ameliorating these adverse health effects; for example, sewage systems, water treatment, medicine, improved food production techniques such as fertilizers
- Slide 3 The Silk Road connected Asia and Europe 2,000 years ago and allowed traders to move intercontinentally (especially East–West trade of silk textiles to Europe) Probably allowed smallpox, measles, and bubonic plague to spread intercontinentally Reported in 2016: Latrine at a relay station in China at the site of Xuanquanzhi Used by travelers on the Silk Road Sticks wrapped with cloth used for personal hygiene preserving traces of preserved feces, including parasite eggs One of several intestinal worm varieties in the preserved feces was the Chinese liver fluke (Clonorchis sinensis), which is only found today some 1,500 km further south and east in China A trader, government official, or soldier must have acquired the parasite far away and brought it to Xuanquanzhi, attesting to the role the Silk Road must have played in spreading illness
- Slide 4 Another latrine study in 2016: ancient Rome Ancient Romans are attributed many advances in government, politics, and law; art, literature, and architecture; engineering and technology Among the Romans’ many other technological advances are public toilets, bathhouses, and sewers Widely assumed that these contributions to personal hygiene, along with laws governing how waste was managed in cities, improved people’s health and helped manage crowded living conditions However, comparative research of many latrines showed that whipworm, roundworm, and dysentery persisted in latrines before, during, and after the Roman Empire Sanitation did not reduce pathogens in ancient Rome Practices such as sharing the same sponges at toilets may have contributed to health problems
- Slide 5 All organisms face challenges to their health and ability to survive However, none are as good as humans at creating the very health challenges we are struggling to overcome Pollution, overnutrition, extensive travel (think of a crowded airport), poor sanitation, and antibiotic-resistant diseases are just some examples of this paradox In the name of progress—namely, technology, culture, and communication—we inadvertently create many health problems for ourselves and have for thousands of years Latrine finds show the deep roots of health problems to which culture and technology have contributed