It Had to Happen

064

After you finish this article—reading time approximately eight minutes—you will know a great deal about two somewhat esoteric disciplines: palynology and archaeoparasitology.

But first a little practical in formation about ancient toilet seats, two of which were found in excavations in the City of David,^a the oldest inhabited part of Jerusalem.

The City of David is a small, 15-acre site located on a ridge just south of the Old City’s Temple Mount. It was on this site that the city of Jerusalem was founded. Although the city expanded under the Israelites, first onto the Temple Mount to the north during Solomon’s reign and then to the west during the reigns of the later kings of Judah, the original City of David served through the Babylonian destruction as an integral part of the city, as is clear from these two fine stone toilet seats.

Both toilet seats were uncovered in strata dating to the seventh to sixth centuries B.C.E.,^b and at least one of them was clearly in use at the time of the Babylonian destruction of the city in 586 B.C.E. As we shall see, this date will have considerable significance for our findings.

One of the toilet seats was found in the famous Area 065G, in a small cubicle appended to the House of Ahiel.^c That is the seat on which we will focus here. The other was found in a small cubicle excavated in Area E3,¹ located some distance south of Area G. Each seat was fashioned from a large block of locally available limestone, set into the floor over a cesspit. The cesspit in Area G was lined with plaster; we do not know if the one in Area E3 was originally lined or not.

The shape of the holes in each of the toilet seats differs somewhat. The Area E3 toilet seat has a large keyhole-shaped opening at the top. However, only a central round hole pierces the seat from top to bottom. The opening in the Area G toilet seat is also round, going in a straight line from top to bottom. In addition, it has a small, irregularly shaped opening extending from the top of the seat and exiting from one side. Although it is doubtful that they had separate men’s and women’s toilet seats, this small hole may have been designed for male urination.

These two toilet seats are the only ones from the City of David known to have been found in their original positions. At least two others, however, have been unearthed there by previous excavators. The first of these was found during the infamous Parker Expedition, an effort in the early part of this century to locate the treasures of Solomon’s Temple.^d It was described by Père Louis-Hugues Vincent, the expedition’s archaeological chronicler, as “a magnificent chair of ‘royal’ stone which was at once saluted by the workmen as the throne of Solomon. I fear its actual destination was at once more private and naturally necessary… ”² The second toilet seat appears in a photograph published by Kathleen Kenyon depicting the stone collapse that filled a rectangular room only a few yards from Area G.³

Although large stone toilet seats such as those from the City of David are unknown from other sites in Israel, thin slabs of stone with large, keyhole-shaped openings set above shallow pits and identified as toilets have been found in at least two sites in Jordan. One was found by Crystal Bennett in an Iron Age II (eighth-seventh centuries B.C.E.) stratum at Buseirah,⁴ and another has been found at Tell es-Saideyh by Jonathan Tubb.⁵ In Egypt, similarly large stone toilet seats are known from the much earlier Tell el-Amarna period of the 14th century B.C.E.⁶ A pierced stone block that is popularly identified as the cap of a stand up (or squat-down) toilet is exhibited in Jerusalem’s Rockefeller Museum. It comes from Tell el-Ajjul on the Mediterranean coast of Israel just north of Gaza and is dated to the Late Bronze Age II (c. 15th–13th centuries B.C.E.).

As if we haven’t intruded enough into the personal lives of Jerusalemites in the period just prior to the Babylonian destruction, we now intend—hopefully, with some sensitivity—to go even further. We will examine the deposits in the soil of the cesspit below the toilet seat found in Area G.

To make our study meaningful, we will call on two relatively new sciences—palynology, involving pollen; and archaeoparasitology, involving parasites.

In their quest to understand the past, archaeologists often seek the aid of specialists from the natural sciences to analyze and interpret their finds. This movement started in New World archaeology, where collaborative efforts between natural and social scientists emerged during the 1940s and by the 1960s had become a common research strategy. In Near Eastern archaeology, interdisciplinary archaeological research is an increasingly welcome trend. With this article we hope to show you why.

Palynology, the study of pollen, is important archaeologically because pollen grains are very durable. Identifiable pollen grains have been found preserved in rocks over 2.2 billion years old. This durability ensures the preservation of pollen in archaeological deposits and permits the use of caustic chemicals to separate fossilized pollen grains from archaeological soils.

A second aspect of pollen grains that makes them archaeologically important is their individuality. Because the shape and texture of pollen grains are genetically determined, most plant families produce uniquely identifiable types of pollen. The grains themselves, therefore, may be used to identify the individual plant families from which they derive.

There are two major types of pollen: airborne pollen carried from flower to flower by wind currents and animal-borne pollen transported by insects. Airborne pollen typically comes from plants with small, drab flowers that release huge amounts of pollen in order to ensure that some of it reaches its intended destination. As it slowly settles to the ground, it accumulates in the soil, becoming a reliable indicator of ancient environment.

Insect-borne pollen typically comes from plants with large, colorful flowers that release small amounts of pollen. Unlike airborne pollen, insect-borne pollen is rarely found in air currents and is usually found in archaeological soils as a result of human activities, such as harvesting, processing and storing foods. As the majority of plants eaten by man are insect-pollinated, insect-borne pollen is commonly used to reconstruct ancient diets.

Archaeological palynology can therefore be used to reconstruct both ancient environments and diets. For example, pollen records from Denmark, dating to after 3000 B.C.E., and from Ontario, Canada, dating to the mid-14th to mid-17th centuries and again to the early 19th century, show a reduction in tree pollen, followed by a subsequent rise in the pollen of cereal grains and pasture grasses, pointing to the clearance of land and beginnings of agriculture in these locales. Corn, mustard and willow pollen recovered from digestive tract residues of a paleo-lndian skeleton found at the Nan Ruin, New Mexico, have led archaeologists to conclude that this individual dined on corn mush and ingested medicinal herbs to improve his health (willow bark, leaves and flowers being an early source of 066salicylic acid, the basis of aspirin).

In addition, pollen found at archaeological sites may be used to determine both site function and seasons of occupation. Different plants release their pollen at different times of the year, so the presence or absence of certain pollen types can tell us when the site was used. Pollen trapped on floor surfaces may offer clues as to whether rooms were used as ceremonial sites, living quarters or food preparation and storage areas. Pollen trapped in the surfaces of implements such as grinding stones can reveal which seeds were ground on them, and pollen recovered from inside pottery vessels can tell us what kinds of plant foods were carried or stored in them.

For example, pollen found in soil samples from Neanderthal burials at Shanidar Cave, Iraq, indicates that Neanderthals placed flowers—including hollyhocks—in their graves. Other kinds of pollen found there suggest that the dead were placed on biers of branches and were buried in late May or June. This evidence is commonly considered to be the first indication of early man’s belief in an afterlife.

Archaeoparasitology, for its part, is an emerging field concerned with the extraction and identification of parasite eggs from archaeological deposits. Like pollen, the eggs of intestinal worms are exceptionally durable. The oldest known human parasite eggs come from North America and are over 10,000 years old. In addition, intestinal parasitic worms infecting humans lay thousands of eggs per day. Thus, anywhere from thousands to hundreds of thousands of eggs are voided daily. Once the eggs are passed into the open environment they become a permanent record of disease.

By identifying the distribution of ancient parasites through space and time, the archaeoparasitologist can trace the evolutionary origins of parasites. Such studies have shown that our intestinal parasites have been with us for a very long time. Parasitological studies of pinworms found in humans, great apes and lesser apes show that pinworm evolution paralleled primate evolution; in short, pinworms have been a nuisance since the beginning of humankind. Other parasites have more recent origins. Tapeworms (taenia) that infect humans who consume poorly cooked beef or pork have plagued 067people only since cattle and pigs were domesticated.

Ancient texts corroborate the scientific evidence Cuneiform texts from Mesopotamia⁷ and a famous Egyptian medical text known as Papyrus Ebers contain references to intestinal parasites.⁸ Studies of Egyptian mummies have revealed ancient infections with blood flukes (schistosoma), trichinella (which causes trichinosis), wire worm (strangyloides) and pork or beef tapeworm (taenia). In Israel, coprolites (dessicated feces) from a cave located near the Dead Sea in Nahal Mishmar contained whipworm eggs (trichuris trichiura).

Although it may assail our sensibilities, the analysis of fecal remains is an important source of data for reconstructing ancient diet and disease. Solid residues recoverable from fecal deposits may include macrofossils visible to the naked eye such as seeds, fibers, feathers, hair and bone fragments, as well as microfossils too small to be seen with the eye alone, such as pollen and parasite eggs.

Pollen grains pass through the human digestive system virtually intact. They have been recovered from digestive tract residues of skeletal remains, as well as from coprolites and latrine soils. By studying the pollen and parasite eggs preserved in ancient fecal deposits, we can learn not only about diet, but also about food preparation, standards of health and sanitation, and even environmental conditions.

The discovery of the two stone toilet seats in the City of David and the excavation of the cesspits beneath them provide an exciting opportunity to study diet, disease and environment in ancient Israel.

Professor Paul Goldberg of Hebrew University per formed a micromorphological analysis of the latrine pit soils and concluded that they represented the remains of fecal matter mixed with calcareous ash. The calcareous ash appears to have been introduced as a liming agent intended to sanitize the contents of the latrines by reducing bacterial and fungal activity. Next to the toilet seat in Area G, we found a complete ceramic bowl which could have been used either for handwashing or, possibly, for pouring liming agents into the cesspit.

Soil samples from the Area G cesspit were processed 068for pollen and parasite eggs. This was done by filtering the samples through fine mesh screens and by digesting the soil chemically with various acids. During this process, we observed a rapid and violent reaction between the soil and hydrochloric acid; this suggests that lime had been added to the latrine, supporting Professor Goldberg’s analysis. Indeed, so much lime had been added to the latrine that organic fecal residue comprised only 10 percent of the soil tested.

Most of the pollen found in our samples derives from four different plant families: the mustard family, the carrot family, the mint family and the composite (daisy) family. Each of these families has a number of edible plants from which the pollen could have come. The mustard family includes cabbage, mustard, radishes and turnips. The carrot family includes parsley, caraway, coriander, cumin and dill. The mint family includes hyssop, thyme, marjoram, sage and mint. The composite family includes lettuce, endive, artichokes and chicory. Chicory may even have been the “bitter herbs” consumed by the people of the Exodus in their Passover meals in the desert (Exodus 12:8).⁹

The diet of these people thus included salad plants, potherbs and spices. Surprisingly, relatively few pollen grains from cultivated grasses such as wheat and barley were found. Moreover, pollen evidence of cultivated legumes, such as lentils and peas, was entirely absent. Although many plants in the families we identified could have been used for medicinal purposes, we believe that the pollen from our samples derives primarily from plants used for subsistence, eaten or cooked together with other foodstuffs.

Many of these plant families also include uncultivated plants that might have been used as food in desperate circumstances. Although it is difficult to tell whether the salad, potherb and spice plants were domesticated varieties or their wild-gathered relatives, the prominent absence of cultivated plants such as grains and legumes may be explained by the fact that the latrine dates to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.E. It is quite possible that during the Babylonian siege supplies of cultivated staples were disrupted and people were forced to consume whatever wild potherbs they could find.

The parasitological analysis of this fecal residue revealed unusually large numbers of eggs from two types of human intestinal parasites: tapeworm (taenia) and whipworm (trichuris trichiura). Each milliliter of organic 069residue studied contained approximately 10,900 eggs, almost 85 percent of which were whipworm eggs and roughly 15 percent tapeworm eggs. As tapeworm eggs are rarely found in latrine deposits from ancient European or North American sites where soils are commonly studied for parasite remains, we were surprised to find such a large number in the City of David sample. The tapeworm eggs in our sample attest to the consumption of poorly cooked, perhaps raw, beef or pork, the only meats that carry this parasite.

The whipworm eggs indicate an infection arising either from the ingestion of fecally contaminated foods or from unsanitary living arrangements in which people came into contact with human excrement. The presence of these parasite eggs suggest that sanitary practices in the habitation were generally poor. Whipworm infections such as these could have resulted from the consumption of unwashed produce grown in gardens fertilized with human wastes, or “night soils.” If infected with whipworm, the inhabitants of the City of David were probably also subject to other fecal-borne bacterial and protozoa! diseases. While neither of the parasites found in our samples are debilitating or pathogenic, both can cause anemia.

While the mere existence of something as rare as our toilet seats seems to indicate that at least some ancient Jerusalemites enjoyed a relatively high level of sanitation, the evidence of whipworm infection suggests just the opposite. Indeed, the existence of indoor toilets may have been more a matter of convenience than an attempt to improve personal hygiene. Alternatively, these infections may have been caused by the limited availability of water for washing hands and produce. Similarly, limited supplies of cooking fuels may have led to tapeworm infections caused by the consumption of poorly cooked, or raw, beef or pork. Although ancient Jerusalem’s supplies of water and fuel were always limited, the parasitic infections evident in our latrine samples may well reflect critical shortages of these necessities caused by the Babylonian siege, which ended with the city’s destruction by fire in 586 B.C.E. Moreover, interruptions in the city’s regular food supply caused by the siege may also explain the lack of grains and legumes found in our pollen samples.

One final deduction: The successful outcome of this interdisciplinary study involving the cooperative efforts of specialists in four different fields (archaeology, micromorphology, palynology and parasitology), illustrates that pollen and parasite analysis can be applied effectively to soils from the Near East.

After you finish this article—reading time approximately eight minutes—you will know a great deal about two somewhat esoteric disciplines: palynology and archaeoparasitology. But first a little practical in formation about ancient toilet seats, two of which were found in excavations in the City of David,a the oldest inhabited part of Jerusalem. The City of David is a small, 15-acre site located on a ridge just south of the Old City’s Temple Mount. It was on this site that the city of Jerusalem was founded. Although the city expanded under the Israelites, first onto the Temple Mount to the north […]