Holy Latrine, Biblical Parasites

An excavation of the holy latrine that belonged to the authors of the dead sea scrolls suggests that they were a sickly lot. The authors of the scrolls recorded strict bathing and post-toilet rituals that included bathing in a stagnant pool of water a kilometer away from their settlement. Joe Zias, a palaeopathologist at the […]

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An excavation of the holy latrine that belonged to the authors of the dead sea scrolls suggests that they were a sickly lot. The authors of the scrolls recorded strict bathing and post-toilet rituals that included bathing in a stagnant pool of water a kilometer away from their settlement. Joe Zias, a palaeopathologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, theorizes that bathing in the water could explain why the monks had an average life expectancy of 34.

Zias located the holy toilet by following the instructions in the scrolls and unearthed dead eggs from intestinal parasites, including roundworm (Ascaris), whipworm (Trichuris), tapeworm (Taenia) and pinworm (Enterobius vermicularis), that were preserved in the soil.

If his theory is correct, it mighttherefore carry a lesson about religious fundamentalism, Zias adds. "Itshows what happens when people take biblical things too fundamentallyor literally, as they do in many parts of the world, and what theultimate consequences are."

Via Nature