How people managed ancient waste can tell us about life in the past. In this post, you will find the YouTube video exploring how ancient city dwellers dealt with waste and a full video transcript (with relevant sources and links).

YouTube Video

YouTube Video Transcript

Here, you will find the complete transcript of the video in the previous section with hyperlinked references/citations.

Intro

When I was in graduate school in New York City, one of my professors started a class by going to the room’s waste basket, picking it up, and putting it at the front of our class. She then picked out items from the bin and gave us her interpretation of what certain objects said about the people who lived in NYC. She emphasized that we can learn a lot about people from what’s in their trash. 

Hi, I’m Dr. Smiti Nathan, and I’m an archaeologist. I often come back to this moment in graduate school, and recently, it got me thinking about waste in the past, especially in cities. So in this video, we’re going to explore the archaeological record to find how ancient city dwellers dealt with waste, and what that can tell us about life in the past and the present. So, let’s get into it.

What Is Waste?

Now when we think about modern waste, we often categorize it into different types, which influences how it’s managed. When it comes to ancient cities, we’re going to explore three categories: 1. Domestic waste, 2. Sewage waste, and 3. Artisanal waste.

Now, it’s important to note that these categories are modern ones. What archaeologists might classify as waste or trash, could have had a different conceptualization, meaning, or designation to people in the past. As always, context, and taking note of our biases, are crucial. What we’re trying to explore in this video is how past people in cities managed things that they didn’t need anymore. In some cases, certain strategies make us question our own definitions of waste and trash. 

To help us better understand the ins and outs of waste management in ancient cities, Dr. Taylor Zaneri is going to help us out. Hi, I’m Dr. Taylor Zaneri and I’m an archaeologist who focuses on public health and human-environmental interactions in medieval Italy.

Domestic Waste

Let’s start with domestic waste. In this category, we’re including discarded items generated through everyday life in people’s homes. We can break this down into two main sub-categories: household objects and food.

Starting with household objects, these could be things like pots, clothing, and furniture. They could be made from either organic and inorganic materials, or both. 

An organic material could be something like wood. When it comes to archaeology, organic materials don’t preserve as well as inorganic materials because they decay quickly in most environments. However, we still do recover organic materials when they are in an environment that lends itself to preservation, or they have undergone a transformation that keeps them from decaying quicker than usual, like burning. 

In contrast, inorganic materials such as stone, ceramics, or glass are more durable. Stone items might include tools, cooking pots, or decorative objects. Ceramics and glass were commonly used for eating and drinking vessels, cookware, and storage jars, all of which could break over time and require replacement. 

So when it comes to inorganic household waste, how would people dispose of something like a broken pot or tool? 

Well that’s a great question and waste disposal methods varied widely. In urban areas with limited space, individuals might dig small pits inside their homes or in courtyards to bury these items. This is a practice we’ve observed across many regions and time periods, from the Bronze Age to 19th-century Washington D.C (Crane 2000).

 Alternatively, items such as ceramics, glass, or stone could be discarded in certain rooms or spaces inside a house or outside in alleyways or streets. And if items were discarded outside, they could be walked over and broken down further over time. In addition, in some cities including Medieval Bologna, there was regular street cleanings, which would have eventually removed this material. However, we don’t necessarily know where this was taken, but it certainly would’ve been outside the city walls. 

But discard was not the only option. We have examples from around the world of items being reused and repurposed. For example, not all broken pottery was considered waste. In a previous video, we discussed how broken pottery was reused throughout the ancient Mediterranean world for various interesting purposes. 

So that was household objects, but food waste was another significant category that required careful management. This included plant material, as well as animal flesh and bones. If you left these things unattended, they would eventually decay, perhaps emit unpleasant odors, and likely attract animals like rodents and insects. 

So how did ancient cities deal with food waste?

Food waste was likely disposed of outside homes. In some cases, neighborhoods or communities used shared waste disposal areas. For example, in a Late Bronze Age village in Romania, residents deposited both organic and inorganic waste into a communal basin dug into the ground beyond their homes (Dietrich 2017: 35–37). Over time, the basin filled with layers of refuse, forming a mound that provides valuable insights into the community’s waste management practices.

Now it’s important to note that food waste could also be repurposed. For instance, organic waste was sometimes used as fertilizer. During the Classic Maya period, villagers swept organic and inorganic refuse into their gardens, where decomposing organic matter enriched the soil (Halperin and Foias 2016: 131–139). Archaeologists often find remnants of inorganic material, such as ceramics, in these formerly cultivated areas.

Sewage

The next category of waste we are going to explore is sewage, specifically human waste. 

So how did people in ancient cities deal with sewage?

 Okay, so this is the question that everybody wants to know the answer to. People in the past developed methods to dispose of human waste. The earliest known example of a toilet comes from the Mesopotamian settlement of Uruk in 3200 BC (Mahon 2015, 22). We have examples of complex waste management systems in ancient cities like Mohenjo-Daro and Ancient Rome.

So, let’s take a look at these examples in more detail, starting with Mohenjo-Daro.

Mohenjo-daro is a city that was built around 4,500 years ago, and it’s located in the modern-day province of Sindh in Pakistan. Mohenjo-daro had an advanced sanitation system for its time. Most houses were equipped with bathrooms connected to drainage systems. Waste was carried out of homes via brick-lined, underground drains that were carefully constructed with a slope to facilitate the flow of sewage (Khan 2014). These drains merged into larger cesspits, which were periodically cleaned (Jansen 1989). Such a system required not only sophisticated engineering to calculate the correct inclines, but also comprehensive urban planning to ensure all components worked together.

Another notable sewage system is from Ancient Rome. The Romans constructed sewage and drainage systems, the most famous of which is the Cloaca Maxima. Initiated in the 6th century BCE, the Cloaca Maxima began as an open canal designed for drainage, but was later covered and expanded with secondary canals feeding into the main system. It managed wastewater (Hopkins 2007; Koloski-Ostrow 2015, 52–83) serving the Roman Forum, and the system ultimately drained into the Tiber River. We’ll discuss the motivation for this system later, but first, let’s consider,

What would happen if ancient cities didn’t manage sewage effectively?

Certainly, there were instances in the past where sewage posed significant problems for people. These issues can be better understood by examining historical sewage systems, such as cesspits, and analyzing their contents. For instance, a study conducted in the city of York analyzed sewage remains and discovered intestinal parasites in the Roman and Anglo-Scandinavian layers. One cause of these parasites is improper disposal of fecal material, which contaminates water or food consumed (Hall and Kenward 2016: 99-100).

Like domestic waste, disposal was not the only human waste management strategy in the past. We also have examples of human waste being repurposed.

Night soil is often a mixture of refuse—which can include both human and animal excrement, along with other organic and inorganic waste—typically collected from one location and deposited elsewhere.

In the past it was sometimes deposited in agricultural fields and used as manure. When surveying historic agricultural landscapes, the organic matter is often no longer present due to decay over time. However, we may still find inorganic materials, such as ceramics, that were deposited along with the night soil (Forbes 2013: 551-3).

Let’s take a look at the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán. Prior to Spanish colonization, it was a thriving metropolis. Many aspects of daily life had a centralized system providing ongoing support and maintenance, including human waste management.

In her book, Unmaking Waste, Sarah Newman provides a translation of a Spanish conquistador’s remarks about the waste management he observed:

“I also want to mention that, speaking apologetically, they also sold many canoes filled with human excrement, which they kept in the creeks near the marketplace, and this was for making salt or tanning skins, for without it they say that they are not well made. I have understood well that some gentlemen will laugh at this, but I say that it is so; and I say moreover that customarily on all the roads they had places of reeds or straw or grass, so that those who passed could not see through them; there they placed themselves when they needed to purge their intestines, so that even that filth would not be lost.”

So, in addition to being centrally managed, human waste had specific uses. Archaeologists also think that human waste was also used as fertilizer for agriculture. Part of Tenochtitlán’s agriculture strategy was chinampas. These were essentially human-made agricultural beds that were constructed in water. While archaeological work on chinampas is ongoing, some scholars think human excrement was used as one type of fertilizer for these agricultural systems.

Night soil for agricultural purposes wasn’t limited to Mesoamerican cities. In fact, there are textual accounts of night soil being used as fertilizer in China as early as the 6th century CE. Night soil has also been well-documented in Japan during the Edo Period. 

Artisanal Waste

So far, we’ve covered domestic and sewage waste, but artisanal waste was also a major consideration for various ancient cities.

Now by artisanal waste, we don’t mean fancy, special waste. This is waste produced by artisans who are making certain crafts and technologies. 

In the past, industries such as metalworking, clothmaking, stone tool making, and ceramic production were essential to economic growth and life, both in urban areas and the countryside. These artisans generated waste as they created things. Managing artisanal waste has long been a challenge, much like it is today.

Ancient artisanal waste is often found near the locations where production takes place. For example, let’s take a look at ceramics. As far back as the Neolithic period, we have examples of kilns from sites situated in the modern-day Czech Republic. These kilns have been found near domestic areas, with ceramic waste close by (Thér et al. 2019: 116). When it comes to ancient cities, at the Mesopotamian site of Lagash in modern-day Iraq, excavations uncovered waste from ceramic production, including ash, slag, and “wasters,” alongside five kilns (McMahon et al. 2023: 608-11).

Such waste can be a useful tool for archaeologists to help identify sites and understand their function.

However, in certain places and times, artisanal waste and processes could have generated harmful waste. If it wasn’t properly managed, it could have serious consequences like contaminating water sources or agricultural lands. 

So how did past city dwellers deal with potentially harmful artisanal waste?

If we go to medieval Bologna, numerous regulations were enacted to mitigate the harmful effects of artisanal activities. Many of these regulations involved controlling and manipulating space and other materials (Zaneri 2023). For example, zoning laws, prohibited metalworkers and other fire-dependent crafts from operating in the city center, helping to reduce air pollution and fire hazards. By restricting these industries to designated zones, the city minimized both risks – air pollution and fire hazards. Additionally, waste disposal regulations were implemented, such as prohibiting the disposal of animal remains near wells, to prevent contamination of water sources.

There was no single strategy for managing waste, as it varied widely depending on several factors. First, waste came in different categories—each requiring its own method of disposal. For example, artisanal waste that contaminated water posed a different challenge than animal waste, which in turn differed from organic food waste. Second, waste issues varied across different parts of the city. As a result, multiple strategies were employed, shaped by time, location, and even the season.

Social Life/Reflection/Value Through Waste

The way people in past cities dealt with waste varies and reflects various aspects of life in certain places at certain times. 

As we mentioned earlier, it is essential to acknowledge our own biases when interpreting the archaeological record. For example, ancient Roman sewage and drainage systems have often been lauded as the poster child of ancient public health initiatives, when in actuality, that may not be true. Scholars (Kolowski-Ostrow 2015; Zuiderhoek 2009) have noted that the motivation for building systems like the Cloaca Maxima, might have had more to do with political control over water and/or the prestige of erecting structures, as opposed to concern over public health. 

Changes in waste management strategies can also reflect broader societal shifts in power, value systems, and more. Earlier, we mentioned the waste management system at Tenochtitlán, which included reusing human waste. This system was consistently maintained by the Aztecs; however, once the city was captured and controlled by the Spanish, the waste management strategy changed, too. Systematic operations and reuse were substituted with unsystematic disposing and dumping of waste outside homes, to the city’s outskirts, or in the canal. This had disastrous outcomes.

As scholar Sarah Newman puts it, “Although Spaniards often remarked on and admired the order and cleanliness of cities such as Tenochtitlán, many successful pre-Columbian strategies clashed with emerging colonial norms concerning not only bodily propriety, but also the use and ownership of space…In colonial Mesoamerica, waste thus became a primary means of creating and controlling appropriate Spanish subjects, not only through metaphor, but through management as well.”

Waste management, or the lack thereof, has been linked to the spread of various diseases and epidemics; however, the way people perceive waste has also influenced how people have been treated and mistreated. In colonial Mesoamerica, we have records that acknowledge the role administration plays in diseases, but they explicitly and incorrectly point to poor and Indigenous peoples as the cause. 

Our underlying beliefs surrounding status, power, and people still impact waste management in different places of the world to this day.

Socio-economic and environmental factors have influenced how waste is managed—and who bears the greatest burden of it—both in the past and today. This can include designated specific areas for waste-producing activities, often disproportionately impacting historically marginalized or lower-income communities.In the context of environmental justice, studies have shown that in both the United States and Europe, lower-income households are more likely to live near landfills (Piper 2023: 4-5, Martuzzi et al. 2013: 22-23).

Outro

From ancient Mohenjo-Daro to medieval Bologna, ancient city dwellers dealt with domestic, sewage, and artisanal waste in various ways. They also thought about waste differently than many of us do today. In the present day, the sheer volume of goods we produce and discard poses new challenges. They require ongoing efforts to manage waste sustainably and protect the environment. 

Now, if you’re interested in learning more about an artisanal material that we mentioned often in this video, but has some surprising uses, check out the video here. That’s all for this video, and we’ll catch you in the next one. Bye!

Credits

Taylor Zaneri: Co-Producer, Researcher, Scriptwriter

Noor Hanania: Lead Video Editor

Brooke Norton: Peer Reviewer

Sneh P. Patel: Peer Reviewer

Anya Gruber: Peer Reviewer

Smiti Nathan: Director, Co-Producer, Support Video Editor, Researcher, Scriptwriter

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