A new study analyzed urine and feces in Roman chamber pots to understand the health of the Roman Province of Moesia Inferior between the 2^nd and 4^th centuries. They discovered that these poor Romans suffered from intestinal parasites.

In a new study published in Heritage Science, researchers from Adam Mickiewicz University, the University of Warsaw, and the Medical University of Warsaw rolled up their proverbial sleeves to do the “dirty work” in tackling public health in the Roman era.

Employing an interdisciplinary approach, the team integrated historical and archaeological evidence with paleoparasitology to identify infectious diseases and better understand everyday conditions in the lower Danube, as per the study.

What they found, astonishingly, was the presence of Taenia sp. egg and Cryptosporidium sp. in most samples, representing “the earliest reliable Mediterranean evidence for this parasite,” along with Entamoeba histolytica. 

These parasites reveal what sanitation, disease burden, and population health were really like in this region of the Roman Empire, known for its ingenuity and innovation, but sometimes, public health might not be up to par.

How healthy were the Bulgarian Romans?

As the study authors stated, the historical sources on the Roman Empire typically don’t include information about the provinces far from the capital. Information on hygiene and health regulations is scarce, they explained. Data on dietary habits exists in a few cookbooks, but researchers have to employ highly specialized methods in order to glean what the status of their health was.

These researchers, tackling the nitty-gritty of civilization, focused on Bulgaria as parasite analysis from this region had never been published. They wanted to identify the relationship between hygiene and human health by gathering fecal and urine samples from chamber pots in Novae and Marcianopolis, aiming to determine if health differed in the outer provinces from the rest of the empire.

Heritage Daily continues that these makeshift toilets were kept indoors when outdoor facilities weren’t available, which makes these pots special, clear from any cross-contamination from animals. And the valuable matter, in this case, the pure human feces and urine, had hardened over time, preserving the ancient excrement.

That’s a lot of parasites

The parasites found spoke volumes, given how they were transmitted. Entamoeba histolytica can only be contracted in contaminated food and water or through direct contact with an infected individual. It can cause ulceration and amoebic dysentery with bloody diarrhea. This parasite was already known to disease researchers. But Taenia sp. was not the most commonly found.

“The low prevalence of Taenia sp. probably reflects the thoroughness of cooking meat rather than its high quality of absence in the diet of legionaries and townspeople.”

Lastly, Cryptosporidium parvum is a zoonotic protozoan parasite that infects domesticated animals, which then contaminate soil and water, so humans might have ingested diseased water or food, or passed it around due to poor sanitation habits (not washing hands).

The project, the study concludes, has helped to fill a significant research gap in Eastern Europe, particularly in the Balkans.

“For the first time, the urine and fecal-derived mineralized encrustations on the wall of the chamber pots unearthed during the excavations in Novae and Marcianopolis have served as an excellent source for deepening our knowledge of the extent to which the personal hygiene and diet of the inhabitants of the province of Moesia Inferior influence the health and epidemiological situation in the region.”