Intestinal parasites from public and private latrines and the harbour canal in Roman Period Ephesus, Turkey (1st c. BCE to 6th c. CE)

Abstract

To improve our knowledge of the parasite species affecting the inhabitants of Roman period Asia Minor, we analysed faecal material from Ephesus, Turkey. Mineralised material from the drain from a private house latrine (3 rd c. CE), sediment samples from the sewer drain of a public communal latrine (6 th c. CE), and sediment from the harbour canal (ca. 1 st c. BCE to ca. 6 th c. CE) were studied for the presence of intestinal parasites. Samples were viewed by light microscopy for helminth eggs, and commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were used to test for protozoal parasites that cause dysentery. Eggs of roundworm were found in the public latrine, whipworm in the house latrine, and both whipworm and roundworm in the harbour canal. Sequential sampling of the harbour core suggests that whipworm was by far the most common parasite throughout the Roman period, and there was no clear evidence for change in parasite species over the centuries.Whipworm and roundworm are both spread by the contamination of food and drink by human faeces. Despite the large number of travellers to Ephesus, as the capital of its province and a major port city in the Roman Empire, there was a surprising lack of diversity in parasite species found. This is especially apparent when we consider that ten species of intestinal parasite have been found across the Roman Empire. This is the first Roman site to be directly assessed for differences between infection in individuals using private latrines, public latrines, and mixed town effluent (in the harbour) at the same site.

Elaia, Pergamon's maritime satellite: the rise and fall of an ancient harbour city shaped by shoreline migration

“…The prograding delta caused the harbours to silt up and the Ephesians were eventually forced to construct a 'harbour channel' to maintain an access route to the sea after the delta front prograded beyond the city (e.g. Kraft et al, 2007;Delile et al, 2015;Ledger et al, 2018).…”

Parasite infection at the early farming community of Çatalhöyük

“…2018; Ledger et al . 2018). This might be explained by a change in lifestyle from the Neolithic mixed subsistence pattern of farming coupled with the hunting of wild animals and the gathering of wild produce, to later subsistence that was heavily reliant upon farming cereals, eating fruit and herding domesticated animals, such as sheep and goats (Petroutsa & Manolis 2010; Pokutta 2017).…”

Intestinal Parasites in an Ottoman Period Latrine from Acre (Israel) Dating to the Early 1800s CE

“…This quantity was used because it allows us to view about 20 slides for each sample, and the eggs per gram can be calculated by multiplying each egg count by a factor of 5. This 0.2 g sediment sample was then disaggregated (made into a suspension) using an aqueous solution of 0.5% trisodium phosphate, as per the protocol followed in published studies from our laboratory [6,17,18]. The suspension was then poured through 3 microsieves in sequence, with mesh sizes of 300, 160, and 20 µm, respectively.…”

“…Intestinal parasites have been found at other archaeological sites in the Middle East in the Roman, Byzantine and medieval periods in regions such as Turkey [6,7], Egypt [8][9][10], Israel [11][12][13][14], Bahrain [15], and Iran [16]. Species identified include roundworm, whipworm, Taenia sp.…”