There weren't always toilets as we know them today. Before the invention of the loo humans used a hole in the ground, potties and chamber pots! Complete the activities in this pack to find out more. 2000 years ago and built public toilets called Latrines.
Nature makes great toilet paper
But it stands to reason early humans used whatever was on hand. Leaves, sticks, moss, sand and water were common choices, depending on early humans' environment. Once we developed agriculture, we had options like hay and corn husks.
We're going to start with the Stone Age (about a million years ago for all you Gen Z's reading). Butt wiping in the Stone Age started off on a rocky road (pardon the pun) as yes you may have guessed it, for thousands of years stones were the go-to wiping method.
Managing sewage in ancient history
10,000 years ago, when around five million humans lived on the planet, the excrement they produced was quite easily absorbed. It could be buried, thrown into rivers or used to fertilise an increasing variety of crops.
All the Ways We've Wiped: The History of Toilet Paper and What Came Before. Among tools people used in the past were moss, sponge on a stick, ceramic pieces and bamboo 'spatulas.'
As per the salors and vikings, the way of wiping butt is using old or damaged anchor chords or cables as the toilet paper, which is similar to the ancient French did. But the viking used the shellfish to wipe their butts, which is so similar to what the people in ancient UK did.
If you relieved yourself in a public latrine in ancient Rome, you may have used a tersorium to wipe. These ancient devices consisted of a stick with a vinegar- or salt water-soaked sponge attached.
The fundamental problem is that the area used for releasing urine and faeces is compressed between thighs and buttocks, so we are more likely than other animals to foul ourselves. We also differ from other animals in our response to our waste, which we tend to regard with disgust.
The scientific objective of post-defecation cleansing is to prevent exposure to pathogens while socially it becomes a cultural norm. The process of post-defecation cleansing involves either rinsing the anus and inner part of the buttocks with water or wiping the area with dry materials such as toilet paper.
The Romans were unprecedented in their adoption of toilets. Around the first century bc, public latrines became a major feature of Roman infrastructure, much like bathhouses, says Koloski-Ostrow. And nearly all city dwellers had access to private toilets in their residences.
Don't stress if you're still wiping your child's bottom when they're 6, 8, 10 or 12. But do them — and yourself — a favor and take the time to teach them how to do it themselves. We can guarantee it's one aspect of parenting you'll never miss.
Ancient Rome was famous for its sanitation: latrines, sewer systems, piped water and public baths believed to improve public health.
In the 1700s, most people in the upper class seldom, if ever, bathed. They occasionally washed their faces and hands, and kept themselves “clean” by changing the white linens under their clothing. “The idea about cleanliness focused on their clothing, especially the clothes worn next to the skin,” Ward said.
Despite accounting for about 4% of the global population, Americans use 20% of the world's toilet paper. Disturbingly, if you measured the toilet paper an average American uses in their lifetime, it would equal about 634 miles. About 70% - 75 % of the world's population does not use toilet paper.
If you commonly use toilet paper in your house, it's probably because you grew up in a society that does the same. In America, we use toilet paper for our hygiene, like cleaning up after using the bathroom, cleaning and clearing our noses, and more. Toilet paper is cheap, useful, and practical in our culture.
A Japanese toilet or smart toilet, as it's often referred to, is a toilet built with smart technology. Put simply, this means smart toilets can interact with their user via remote control access. With a press of the button, you can flush, spray and dry. As the name suggests, Japanese toilets originated in Japan.
The physiotherapist saus: “When you are wiping more than two or three times, that is called faecal smearing. “So it is essentially when too much faecel matter stays at the entrance of the anus even after you have finished your poo.”
The most dominant view among scientists is the so-called "body-cooling" hypothesis, also known as the "savannah" hypothesis. This points to a rising need for early humans to thermoregulate their bodies as a driver for fur loss.
Thousands of years ago, our ancestors were already using latrines and tidying their hair with combs, suggesting we have some deep-rooted tidy tendencies. Yet people today still engage in gross habits, such as eating lunch over a keyboard or failing to wash their hands after visiting the loo.
In humans. Compared to most other mammals, licking has a minor role for humans. The human tongue is relatively short and inflexible, and is not well adapted for either grooming or drinking. Instead, humans prefer to wash themselves using their hands and drink by sucking or pouring fluid into their mouth.
Ancient Greeks often used stones ("pessoi") or fragments of ceramic ("ostraka") to wipe. Pessoi as wiping objects are found in Ancient Greek art, writings, and even proverbs. For example, an ancient Greek wine cup depicts a squatting man mid-wipe with a cane in one hand and a pessoi in the other.
In Ancient Egypt, around 3100 BC, having an indoor toilet showed a wealthy status. If you were rich, you sat on limestone while 'paying a visit'. If you were poor, you made do with a wooden stool with a hole in it. But regardless of class, below each seat was a pit filled with sand to collect the waste.
But we're the odd ones out with this infatuation: 70% of the world's population doesn't even wipe with toilet paper. (Many of them use bidet showers, more amusingly known as “bum guns.”) And for much of history, “two-ply” wasn't even a thing.