Adam Stanford
Nearly two miles from Stonehenge is a large Neolithic settlement known as Durrington Walls, believed to be where the people who built the famous site camped during the main phase of construction. British archaeologists analyzed fossilized feces collected at the site and found that it contained the eggs of parasitic worms, according to a new paper published in the journal Parasitology. The preserved feces belonged to both dogs and humans, indicating that people brought dogs to the site for winter parties and likely shared the leftovers with the canines.
“This is the first time intestinal parasites have been found in Neolithic Britain, and to find them in the vicinity of Stonehenge is really something,” said study co-author Piers Mitchell, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge. “The type of parasites we find are compatible with previous evidence for winter feasting on animals during Stonehenge’s construction.”
For archaeologists eager to learn more about the health and diet of past populations — as well as how certain parasites evolved over the microbiome’s evolutionary history — preserved samples of ancient poo can be a gold mine of information. For example, ancient Iron Age miners in what is now Austria were fond of beer and blue cheese, according to a 2021 analysis of preserved paleo poop excavated from the prehistoric underground salt mines of Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Fecal samples are usually found in dry caves, desert areas, frozen areas, or swampy environments (such as swamps), where dehydration, freezing, and similar processes preserve the fecal matter for posterity.
As we previously reported, it can be difficult to determine whether fecal samples are from humans or produced by other animals, especially dogs. Usually only those samples found with human skeletons or mummies could be classified with any certainty as being of human origin. Scientists recently developed a tool (called coproID) that can determine whether paleofeces and coprolites recovered from archaeological sites are of human or animal origin. Among other things, the researchers found that the archaeological record was unexpectedly full of dog feces.
Lisa-Marie Shillito
Previous studies have compared fecal parasites found in hunter-gatherer and farming communities, revealing dramatic changes in diet, as well as shifts in settlement patterns and social organization that have coincided with the rise of agriculture. According to an article published earlier this year in the International Journal of Paleopathology, the wealthy, privileged elite of Jerusalem in the 7th century BCE were plagued by poor sanitation and the resulting parasitic intestinal disease. An analysis of soil samples collected from a stone toilet found in the ruins of a posh villa revealed the presence of parasitic eggs of four different species.
However, according to Mitchell, very little is known about the extent of parasitic infection in Britain’s prehistoric population up to the Neolithic period. et al† So the authors decided to examine coprolites excavated at the Durrington Walls site (dated around 2500 BCE) 4,500 years later.
Coprolites are not quite the same as paleofeces, which contain many organic components that can be reconstituted and analyzed for chemical properties. Coprolites are fossils, so most of the organic components have been replaced by mineral deposits such as silicate and calcium carbonates. It can be challenging to distinguish the smallest coprolites from, say, eggs or other types of inorganic granules. But coprolites usually have spiral or ring-shaped markings and may contain undigested food fragments.
