'Amused and delighted' experts continue study of Ancient Roman poo
The new finding poo-ves that the Ancient Romans treated some illnesses in a very strange way
- Published
The team of scientists investigating a surprise find of ancient human poo say they are "surprised, amused, and delighted" by what they've found.
A team of archaeologists in Turkey were working on what they thought were vials of Ancient Roman perfume.
But it turned out that the the dusty brown stuff they found inside a nearly 2,000-year-old glass vial was actually human waste that was being used to try to heal people.
"We found a medicine that has survived from ancient times to the present day," they said.
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Imagine finding what you thought was a perfume bottle... only for there to be poo inside!
The scientists believe they have found physical evidence that the Romans used poo in ancient medicine, which is also mentioned in ancient Roman texts, where poo would be applied to a patient's skin to fight infections.
Cenker Atila, an archaeologist specialising in ancient perfumes at Turkey's Sivas Republic University had been working to help identify what was inside hundreds of vials held at the Bergama Museum in Turkey.
The vials came to the museum after being looted, or stolen, and so there's no record of where they came from.
But the design on the vials suggests they're from Pergamon, an ancient city next to the museum which was home to a famous hospital.
Pergamon is known for its amazing buildings and structures, like this huge amphitheatre
Pergamon was taken over by the Roman Empire over 2,000 years ago and the city became known for its Asclepieion healing centre.
So what's the perfume connection?
Well, according to experts, using poo as a treatment could be pretty smelly, so the Roman solution was to "mix it with something that smells nice."
And as traces of thyme oil were mixed with the ancient poo remains, it seems like they did just that!