Roman night pots revealed what made people sick nearly 1,800 years ago

The study concerned vessels dating back to the 2nd-4th centuries AD found in Nova and Marzianopol in modern Bulgaria. Over the centuries, the remains of urine and faeces had turned into hard mineral deposits on the walls and bottom of the ceramics. It is these that archaeologists carefully scraped off and analysed.

Details

The samples contained eggs of tapeworms of the genus Taenia, as well as traces of Entamoeba histolytica, a parasite that causes amoebic dysentery. But the main discovery was Cryptosporidium: the authors of the paper call it the earliest reliable evidence of its presence in the Mediterranean.

To confirm the findings, the researchers used not only microscopy, but also ancient DNA analysis and an immunological ELISA method that helps recognise traces of specific parasites even when they are poorly preserved. This was especially important for Cryptosporidium, whose remains easily degrade over time.

The scientists also saw a difference between the two cities. There were noticeably more parasites in Nova, and the researchers attributed this to contaminated water from the Danube or aqueducts. No parasites were found in the samples from the workshop in Marzianopolis, which could indicate cleaner water or different living conditions.

Why it matters

The find shows that even everyday items such as night pots can be a source of accurate information about the health of ancient people. It helps us understand how parasitic diseases spread, what infections the inhabitants of Roman provinces faced, and how important clean water and sanitation were.

In addition, the work clarifies the history of one of the intestinal parasites that remains a significant medical problem today. It is a rare occasion for archaeology and medical history to be able to trace the presence of a particular pathogen so far back in time with fairly certainty.

Background

The authors emphasise that interest in palaeoparasitology - the study of ancient parasites - has grown dramatically in recent decades thanks to new methods of analysis. It is these that make it possible to extract information even from very old and seemingly unimportant remains.

Source

The study is published in npj Heritage Science in 2026 under the title Analysis of Roman chamber pots to understand the health of the lower Danube inhabitants.