3,500-year-old toilets are disposal sites

The toilet is said to be the oldest in Asia without a fixed shape and a dump, within a temple compound.

>>>Excavation of latrines for more than 3,500 years in Vietnam

Recently, Australian archaeologists announced the discovery of something that seems to be Asia's oldest toilet, dating back to 3,300 to 3,700 years, belonging to the Neolithic period. Radio Australia News quoted Dr. Marc Oxenham, a member of the research team, saying that thousands of years of human and dog waste were discovered here.

Information about this ancient toilet received great attention from archaeologists and the public. Many people are curious to know both the process of finding and the shape of this "toilet" .

Talking to the PV, Dr. Bui Chi Hoang, Director of the Center for Archeological Research, Southern Region Sustainable Development Institute, and the project manager, said the area where archaeologists discovered many samples Stool about 6 square meters.

"This waste dump has no shape, the feces are found in the cultural strata (strata) about 1.4-1.6m deep. Scientists have collected more than 100 different samples of small and large sizes" , Dr. Hoang said.

Fecal samples are being analyzed to identify human feces and dog feces. Finding this "toilet" is also quite fortunate because there was a Filipino archaeologist in the team who had found and studied dog feces in the Iron Age, so immediately looked at the samples that were ancient.

The area of ​​3,500-year-old waste dump detection. (Photo: Phan Cuong)

Currently the excavation site has been filled up, still visible traces of the excavation pit."They started digging for more than a month, and by the end of April it was finished. There were 4 excavation holes including three behind the Mountain Pagoda and one side of the temple, a total of 70 meters in total , " said Tran Minh Thien, who lives near in the area of ​​Rach Nui archaeological site, said.

Mr. Thien is the cook for the archaeological team to eat, his daughter is also hired to do simple tasks."Every day I go to see, archaeologists search very carefully, lightly scratch each layer of soil, every 5cm, every class will see feces. Archaeological holes that see feces are close to the canal, and other holes only see utensils, stone axes, " Mr. Thien said.

According to Venerable Thich Hue Bach, head of Linh Son pagoda (also known as Nui pagoda), archaeologists dig to the field below. When they saw feces, they rolled up a piece of soil around it, which contained black feces that were taken up and analyzed.

The Venerable Master also affirmed that the "toilet" has no shape, only a waste. "This is the third time this archaeological site was excavated, twice before in 1978 and 2003 , " he said. This relic has long been left empty, almost deserted.