ABSTRACT
When early man roamed the earth, solid waste was composed of the remains from hunting, gathering, and food preparation. Human fecal matter comprised another category of the prehistoric waste stream. When wastes accumulated, inhabitants would simply move to a new location. Natural processes of scavenging and microbial decomposition easily absorbed and incorporated the wastes. As a result, and also due to the very low human populations at the time, characteristic problems associated with wastes such as disease, air pollution, and groundwater contamination were insignicant.
