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Copenhagen city square built on poop
Being an archaeologist can be a tough job--hot weather, frustrating digs that don't turn up any finds, dirty conditions. . .especially the dirty conditions.A dig in the Danish capital Copenhagen has turned out to be dirtier than usual. Archaeologists excavating under Kultorvet Square have found two 18th century outhouses that are literally filled with historic faeces.
Kultorvet means "Coal Square" and was where people bought and sold coal. Now it's a popular meeting place full of cafes and restaurants, as shown in this photo courtesy Leif Jørgensen. These historic toilets would have been used by coal vendors and buyers, mostly working class people. The privies seem to have been popular because both are heaped with the stinky stuff, and the local soil's low oxygen levels have preserved it in a pristine state.
Wading through offal is good news for archaeologists. Old turds can tell a lot about the people who dropped them, like their diet and general health. One slow-witted Dane from days gone by even ate an apple core. It was found encased in his poop, having passed through his system whole after probably causing some indigestion.
A large subway expansion project has led to lots of archaeological finds in Copenhagen. If any more disgusting discoveries turn up, we'll be sure to let you know.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Henrik Nielsen Sep 15th 2011 2:04PM
"One slow-witted Dane from days gone by even ate an apple core. It was found encased in his poop, having passed through, his system whole after probably causing some indigestion." Sean, you are either slow-witted or ill-informed. Eating an apple core is no problem at all and doesn't cause indigestion in a normal, healthy person.
Sean McLachlan Sep 15th 2011 3:20PM
Indigestion? Perhaps not for you, but you are slowly poisoning yourself, according to a Ph.D. in chemistry.
http://chemistry.about.com/b/2007/09/12/yes-apple-seeds-and-cherry-pits-are-poisonous.htm
You see? One can disagree without hurling insults. Amazing, isn't it?
Julian Parker Sep 16th 2011 1:45AM
I don't think you mean offal. Try ordure? As a former archaelogist turned professional chef, I cook offal for customers and I used to dig through ordure years ago
Sean McLachlan Sep 16th 2011 1:50AM
You're right, what an offal mistake!
What kind of archaeological work did you do? I was an archaeologist many years ago. My thesis was on the early Anglo-Saxon migration, looking at the Venerable Bede's description of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. I examined the material culture to see if Bede's description of where they came from and where they went to was accurate. It was, at least according to the grave goods.
Henrik Nielsen Sep 16th 2011 10:27AM
Well, Sean, you were the one to start calling people slow-witted. I am sure you can OD on apple seeds if you eat bucketful every day. The guy who wrote that Ph.D. must have been desperate to find a topic for his thesis.
Sean McLachlan Sep 16th 2011 1:51AM
I only called that particular person from the 18th century slow-witted. Not sure why you took it personally. And it was a woman who wrote that article, and it wasn't her thesis. You go right ahead and continue to eat apple cores.
Henrik Nielsen Sep 16th 2011 11:05AM
Well, Sean, if it is OK to call an unknown person slow-witted, surely it is also OK to call a known person slow-witted?
As all you know about the otherwise unknown person is that he/she apparently ate at least one apple core it must be that fact in and of itself that leads you to call him slow-witted. Thus by implication everybody who eats an apple core is slow-witted. The logic shouldn't be entirely opaque to you.