{"id":13068,"date":"2022-05-20T01:00:54","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T23:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=119864"},"modified":"2022-05-20T01:13:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T23:13:10","slug":"4500-year-old-poo-found-near-stonehenge-shows-neolithic-britons-were-infected-with-parasites","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/4500-year-old-poo-found-near-stonehenge-shows-neolithic-britons-were-infected-with-parasites\/","title":{"rendered":"4,500-year-old poo found near Stonehenge shows Neolithic Britons were infected with parasites"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Jason Goodyer\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 20 May 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Ancient faeces found at Durrington Walls, a Neolithic settlement close to Stonehenge, contains the eggs of parasitic worms, researchers at the University of Cambridge and UCL have found.<\/p>\n

The settlement dates back to around 2,500BC and it believed to have been home to the people who erected the famous monument.<\/p>\n

Archaeologists analysed 19 pieces of ancient faeces, or coprolites, from the site that have been preserved in a mass dung heap for 4,500 years. Five of them, one from humans and four from dogs, were found to contain the eggs of capillariid worms \u2013 a parasitical worm that lodges in the lungs or liver of its host.<\/p>\n

The finding suggests that the Neolithic humans were eating undercooked offal and feeding the leftovers to their dogs, the researchers say.<\/p>\n

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Microscopic egg of a capillariid worm found at the site. Black scale bar represents 20 micrometres<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Evilena Anastasiou<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cThis is the first time intestinal parasites have been recovered from Neolithic Britain, and to find them in the environment of Stonehenge is really something,\u201d said study lead author Dr Piers Mitchell<\/a> from Cambridge\u2019s Department of Archaeology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe type of parasites we find are compatible with previous evidence for winter feasting on animals during the building of Stonehenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

When excavating the dung heap, archaeologists unearthed fragments of pottery, rudimentary stone tools and more than 38,000 animal bones.<\/p>\n

Although 90 per cent of the bones were from pigs, the most likely source of the parasite is cows as capillariid worms typically infect ruminants, the researchers say.<\/p>\n

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The team analysed 19 coprolites found at the site<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Lisa-Marie Shillito<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Archaeological evidence suggests that Durrington Walls was occupied during the second stage of the construction of Stonehenge, when the iconic \u2018trilithons\u2019 \u2013 a pair of huge vertical stones topped by a third horizontal stone \u2013 were erected. The seasonal residents of Durrington Walls are thought to have carried out the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new evidence tells us something new about the people who came here for winter feasts during the construction of Stonehenge,\u201d said Prof Mike Parker Pearson<\/a> from UCL\u2019s Institute of Archaeology.<\/p>\n

\u201cPork and beef were spit-roasted or boiled in clay pots but it looks as if the offal wasn\u2019t always so well cooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about ancient humans:<\/strong><\/p>\n