Archaeologists love trash pits and outhouse sites because what we discard, either physical or biological, tells a lot about life.
The Valley News has a good story about a dig in a former “privy” (love that word) in Hanover that reminded us how much unpleasant interaction with nature no longer occurs.
An archaeological excavation in the heart of Dartmouth College’s campus found evidence that a parasitic infection affected a wealthy Hanover household during the early 19th century.
Research showed that parasitic infection was common in low-income, urban communities. Poor sanitation and medical care access, population density, and the ingestion of raw or undercooked meat are thought to have created conditions prime for parasites like tapeworm and whipworm.
These findings suggest that even this household (that) was very wealthy by the standards of the day, still seem to (have been) exposed to infection
Return to the Concord Monitor
thanx for sharing this blog over here. we will look forward for more updates.
Our greatest advances in healthcare have not been in the treatment of individual patients, but rather in public sanitation, water supply, and food safety laws. Huge swaths of people who would have become ill, never did. However, individual treatment advances are nice too; I would be dead now if not for penicillin.
In 1999 a lot of places asked for opinions on humanity’s greatest accomplishment over the past millennium. I always voted for indoor plumbing.