Ancient and ArchaeologyΒ permalink
toilet paper
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Message 1.Β
Posted by english_learner or cheetah (U3364191) on Monday, 7th July 2008
500 years ago, what do Britons use for toilet paper?
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Message 2
Posted by stalteriisok (U3212540) on Tuesday, 8th July 2008
LOL
what a superb post - sort of thing u wonder about but darent ask
leaves - rabbits - grass ??
love the truth of the roman legions - a sponge dipped into the flowing water underneath them - whilst they had a chat te-he
can u imagine that
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Message 3
Posted by english_learner or cheetah (U3364191) on Wednesday, 9th July 2008
Thank you stalteriisok, I asked because in the tropic I used to use leaves when I was desperate.
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Message 4
Posted by Xenos5 (U1814603) on Wednesday, 9th July 2008
That's not a good idea, Cheetah. Any small insects on the leaves (and there are usually many) may well decide your - eh-hem - intimate area provides a more conducive environment than the leaf, and decide to move house, set up family, have thousands of little babies........ You get the picture.
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Message 5
Posted by NCH (U9519230) on Thursday, 10th July 2008
Believe it or not the TV series Brainiac actually conducted an experiment on theories of ancient bum-wipers.
The roman sponge was certainly one. Others were corn on the cobs, sea shells (ouch), the hand (obviously) and perhaps a household pet.
I think the hand won.
As for medieval Europe I would suggest that for a people who thought bathing unhealthy, they would be a hygienic as a sheep. If anyone has worked with sheep they'll know what I mean.
So - breeches down/skirt up, away you go (wherever you feel like), then breeches up/skirt down.
Nice. -
Message 6
Posted by english_learner or cheetah (U3364191) on Thursday, 10th July 2008
Thank you Xenos5 and NCH,I was very carefull and only picked big and healthy leaves (free of insects) but I live in the UK now and I love my toilet roll.
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Message 7
Posted by islanddawn (U7379884) on Thursday, 10th July 2008
Just a thought, in my husbands (very remote) ancestral village here in Greece they once used smooth pebbles instead. With no suitable vegetation available and paper too precious a commodity to be used for something so mundane, pebbles proved to be quite effective and freely available. Or so I'm told.
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Message 8
Posted by Crystal Clear (U1010754) on Sunday, 13th July 2008
Ive heard of the use of sponges on sticks in communal toilets. I think it was the Romans but Im not 100% sure.
500 years ago? Not sure but they did use wall to wall fresh air, meaning they crapped out of the window (to quote Blackadder 2)! -
Message 9
Posted by Jak (U1158529) on Sunday, 13th July 2008
I read somewhere that (presumably the wealthier folk) used the necks of geese or swans.
Maybe it was just a joke in something by Rabelais. -
Message 10
Posted by Anglo-Norman (U1965016) on Monday, 14th July 2008
Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:32 GMT, in reply to english_learner or cheetah in message 6
I love my toilet roll.Β
I hope you'll be very happy together.
On a more serious note (heaven forbid!), I seem to recall that in the middle ages the left hand was always used to wipe one's posterior as it was 'bad', whilst the 'good' right hand was used to eat. (Presumably this is related to why the Latin word for left, sinister, has come to mean something evil). I recall a Reformation-era satirical woodcut of the Pope giving a blessing with his left hand, a very meaningful symbol to the 16th century mind.
On a related note, if you're ever visiting Windsor Castle, look out for the column capital with a carving of a man relieving himself in a bush. It's just at the top of the Stairs to the Gallery. There's also a monkey doing something to a goat, another monkey battling two crocodiles, and a man being savaged by a dog. -
Message 11
Posted by fascinating (U1944795) on Wednesday, 16th July 2008
The question asked is what Britons used 500 years ago in place of toilet paper. Well what did the Chinese use, the Indians, the Africans, at the same time. Come to that what did all these cultures use 1500 years, or 5000 years ago.
We know we use toilet paper, and the Romans used a sponge on a stick. This has got me thinking: in both our and Roman cultures we construct toilets to sit upon. Now in the absence of any toilet (just bare ground) you would squat. I don't know but I think that the very design of our toilets causes the NEED to wipe ourselves clean.
I read a book by Andy Mcnab called Bravo Two Zero, and he said that he managed to avoid needing to take toilet paper in his back pack. -
Message 12
Posted by NCH (U9519230) on Wednesday, 16th July 2008
I certainly carried some in mine but not much.
Only one sheet would be necessary when outdoors and this would not be needed for one's bottom!
I shan't explain.
As I said earlier, 500 hundred years ago, wiping wasn't a thought in our ancestor's heads.
If there was a need to do some tidying they would use a hand and then (maybe) wash that hand. -
Message 13
Posted by Triceratops (U3420301) on Friday, 18th July 2008
There was a job at the Tudor Court;
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Message 14
Posted by highchurchman (U7711917) on Friday, 18th July 2008
When I worked in the cotton mill 1947, we had a 12 seater lav, where you could sit and chat! For wiping, there were copies of old Daily Heralds and Daily Mirrors lying about.
I wouldn.t use it and waiting five hours to dinner time caused me awful pain. I suspect, but do not know the truth, that the women had a similar system.
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