Friday, June 21, 2013

Crusaders and the Worms

Archeologists took a look at an 800 year old cess pit Saranda Kolones in Cypress. The island was a Crusader state for centuries, eventually becoming the house for the King of Jerusalem after the Mamluks drove the last of the Crusaders from the Levant.

The ancient, dried waste was hydrated and combed over; the comb over revealed both whip worms and round worms which clearly infested the digestive tracks of whoever popped a squat over the toilet hole some centuries past. This probably reveals a contaminated food source, probably water.

It is known to belong to some knight or soldier of the Kings, as the castle was destroyed in an earthquake way back win and never rebuilt. The ruins of it only being closely examined in the 1950s. The latrines survived the earthquake.

Livescience.

Here's the latrine. Just think, 800 years ago some fellow hiked up his shirt, dropped his trousers and plopped down right there. Probably had a knife belt on that scraped the floor and a crossbow leaning against the wall.


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