ABSTRACT
A number of key steps have been noted in the cultural evolution of anatomically modern humans. Human population size certainly seems to have increased significantly with these steps, so from a Darwinian perspective, the steps seem to have been effective for our species. This chapter investigates to what degree these technological developments in sanitation and latrines may have had an impact upon the health of early human populations. Once sanitation technologies such as cesspools and latrines had been invented, soil from these facilities can also be analysed. Microscopy can demonstrate the eggs of intestinal parasitic worms as they are fairly resistant to the process of decomposition that originally skeletonised the burial. If, in modern clinical studies, we could determine the effect of different aspects of sanitation upon human health, we could use theoretical modelling to estimate potential impact in the past. A large number of studies have been undertaken in order to investigate the effec.
