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Standard sanitation in medieval towns relied on the cesspit toilet: holes in the ground used for faeces and household waste. These are both spread by poor sanitation." "This is the first time anyone has attempted to work out how common parasites were in people following different lifestyles in the same medieval town."Ĭambridge researcher Tianyi Wang, who did the microscopy to spot the parasite eggs, said: "Roundworm was the most common infection, but we found evidence for whipworm infection as well. "The friars of medieval Cambridge appear to have been riddled with parasites," said study lead author Dr Piers Mitchell from Cambridge's Department of Archaeology. The 32% prevalence of parasites among townspeople is in line with studies of medieval burials in other European countries, suggesting this is not particularly low - but rather the infection rates in the monastery were remarkably high. They say these rates are likely the minimum, and that actual numbers of infections would have been higher, but some traces of worm eggs in the pelvic sediment would have been destroyed over time by fungi and insects. The researchers tested 19 monks from the friary grounds and 25 locals from All Saints cemetery, and found that 11 of the friars (58%) were infected by worms, compared with just eight of the general townspeople (32%). It was founded in the 1280s and lasted until 1538 before suffering the fate of most English monasteries: closed or destroyed as part of Henry VIII's break with the Roman Church. The Augustinian friary in Cambridge was an international study house, known as a studium generale, where clergy from across Britain and Europe would come to read manuscripts. Most of the parish church burials date from the 12-14 th century, and those interred within were primarily of a lower socio-economic status, mainly agricultural workers. The population of medieval Cambridge consisted of residents of monasteries, friaries and nunneries of various major Christian orders, along with merchants, traders, craftsmen, labourers, farmers, and staff and students at the early university.Ĭambridge archaeologists investigated samples of soil taken from around the pelvises of adult remains from the former cemetery of All Saints by the Castle parish church, as well as from the grounds where the city's Augustinian Friary once stood.
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The study, published today in the International Journal of Paleopathology, is the first to compare parasite prevalence in people from the same medieval community who were living different lifestyles, and so might have differed in their infection risk. Researchers from the University of Cambridge's Department of Archaeology say the difference in parasitic infection may be down to monks manuring crops in friary gardens with their own faeces, or purchasing fertiliser containing human or pig excrement. This is despite most Augustinian monasteries of the period having latrine blocks and hand-washing facilities, unlike the houses of ordinary working people.