Treasure Trove of Roman Excrement Found at Herculaneum
We now know what the lower- and middle-class Romans atea diverse Mediterranean diet with some unusual extras such as spiky sea urchins and dormice.
While investigating a sewer system under the ancient town of Herculaneum, archaeologists discovered their largest find yet of human excrement. An analysis of the waste suggests that the typical Roman diet consisted of ample fish, fruits and vegetables, eggs, olives, walnuts, sea urchins, and dormice.
Herculaneum was a town on the shore of the modern-day Bay of Naples in Italy that was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago in AD 79.
The team of researchers gathered over 770 bagsnine tons worthof human waste from the 86-meter long sewage system, which was found accidentally while attempting to prevent flooding in the area during a heavy rain season.
"It is the largest and fullest collection of ancient Roman waste ever excavated and it is actually very interesting to look at," project director Andrew Wallace-Hadrill told the UK's Daily Mail.
"In the past archaeologists would throw it away because they didn't have the technology that we have today."
Among the massive amounts of waste, the archaeologists found other objects including coins, rings, precious stones, bone hairpins, pots and pans, and even human skeletons. Plus some pots of "ingenious construction" that may have been used to fatten up the dormice prior to eating, according to Wallace-Hadrill.
While investigating a sewer system under the ancient town of Herculaneum, archaeologists discovered their largest find yet of human excrement. An analysis of the waste suggests that the typical Roman diet consisted of ample fish, fruits and vegetables, eggs, olives, walnuts, sea urchins, and dormice.
Herculaneum was a town on the shore of the modern-day Bay of Naples in Italy that was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago in AD 79.
The team of researchers gathered over 770 bagsnine tons worthof human waste from the 86-meter long sewage system, which was found accidentally while attempting to prevent flooding in the area during a heavy rain season.
"It is the largest and fullest collection of ancient Roman waste ever excavated and it is actually very interesting to look at," project director Andrew Wallace-Hadrill told the UK's Daily Mail.
"In the past archaeologists would throw it away because they didn't have the technology that we have today."
Among the massive amounts of waste, the archaeologists found other objects including coins, rings, precious stones, bone hairpins, pots and pans, and even human skeletons. Plus some pots of "ingenious construction" that may have been used to fatten up the dormice prior to eating, according to Wallace-Hadrill.
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The findings will be presented at the British Museum in London in 2013.
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