Monday, March 30, 2015

What centuries-old poop parasites teach us about international travel

Tapeworm-egg1

The excavation of a roughly 500-year-old latrine in Jerusalem has uncovered thousands of eggs from human parasites, including some that may have come from Northern Europe, a new study finds.


The people who used the latrine may have been long-distance traders or on a pilgrimage, likely from Northern Europe, where these parasites were common, the researchers said.


"While we will never know for sure why they made this journey, pilgrims and traders would be a plausible explanation," said the study's senior researcher, Piers Mitchell, a lecturer of biological anthropology at the University of Cambridge in England Read more...


More about Jerusalem, Poop, Us World, and Medieval



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