Roman flower pot discovered to be chamber pot instead

[guy]

 

Roman ceramic flower pot was discovered to really be a chamber pot after identification of intestinal worm (whipworm) eggs.

 

“Once thought to be a flower pot, researchers unearthed the vessel in the bath complex of a Roman villa in Sicily, named the Villa of Gerace. But a microscopic analysis of the pot's internal crust revealed the preserved eggs”

“Chamber pots are perhaps one of the more challenging ceramic forms to identify with certainty in Roman pottery studies, despite the availability of detailed ceramic typologies. Here, we describe the analysis of mineralized concretions taken from a Sicilian ceramic vessel of the fifth-century CE, and propose paleoparasitology, the identification of intestinal parasites, as a helpful method for contributing to the detection of chamber pots. Microscope analysis of the mineralized concretions revealed the presence of eggs of the intestinal nematode Trichuris trichiura (whipworm), confirming that the vessel originally contained faeces. This is the first time that parasite eggs have been identified from concretions inside a Roman ceramic vessel. Systematic parasitological investigation of calcified deposits from ceramic vessels may therefore help to establish function.”

The pot was found buried in the bath complex of a Roman villa in Sicily. (Image credit: R.J.A. Wilson)
 

https://www.livescience.com/roman-empire-port-o-potty
 

There have been several previous threads on the frequency of intestinal parasites in the ancient world:

 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by guy

[guy]

Nice follow-up article:

Microscopic egg of whipworm from the chamber pot. Black scale bar represents 20 micrometres. Credit: Sophie Rabinow

 

This is the first time that parasite eggs have been identified from concretions inside a Roman ceramic vessel and confirms the Gerace pot must have been used to contain human feces.
Piers Mitchell, the parasites expert who led the study in the laboratory, says, "This pot came from the baths complex of a Roman villa. It seems likely that those visiting the baths would have used this chamber pot when they wanted to go to the toilet, as the baths lacked a built latrine of its own. Clearly, convenience was important to them."
 

https://www.ancientpages.com/2022/02/11/ancient-roman-portable-toilets-studied-by-scientists/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=biblical_mystery_of_the_forbidden_fruit_and_the_deep_sleep_dolmen_de_soto_unique_millennia_old_underground_structure_remains_a_puzzling_enigma_how_on_earth_did_the_ancient_egyptians_raise_their_colossal_obelisks_and_much_more_feb_8_14_2022&utm_term=2022-02-14

Edited February 15, 2022 by guy