How did people deal with trash before? In Rome they threw all the amphoraes which contained olive oil onto this big pile, which still stands today, because the olive oil seeped into the clay and would ruin it, making it unusable for other purposes due to the smell and the chemical reactions happening to it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Testaccio
Any other interesting stories on how people have dealt with trash?
>>86322
The amount of trash was minimal compared to modern society. Most of the stuff was recycled, there were no plastic wrappings on products etc.
Chuck it in the streets for most part.
Or in the ditches of the city wall, or try and throw it in a heap if you could be arsed (archaeologists love middens)
>>86376
>Chuck it in the streets for most part.
Basically. It's how Europe had the black plague. Anywhere that does not have running water, you can count on garbage, and even human waste in the open in the streets. You can look at modern day India and non-industrialized countries to have a good idea what it's like.
>>86345
Manufacturing and the introduction of plastic has made trash issues so very much worse. Even now, there's a giant pile of Chinese garbage just floating around the Pacific.
>It was the scene of jousts and tournaments during the Middle Ages, when Monte Testaccio was the scene of pre-Lenten celebrations. As part of the festivities, two carts filled with pigs were hauled to the top of the hill, then allowed to run back down the steep slope to be smashed to pieces along with their porcine passengers. The watching revellers would then dismember the pigs on the spot and carry the parts off to be roasted and eaten.
Br00tal
>>86421
But that brings something to mind; when did most people in Europe start to drink water? I've read that it wasn't to uncommon for people to drink beverages containing alcohol not just because the water was poor but also because the alcohol killed the bacteria and such and that this was quite common in Europe even during the start of the 20th century.
Did people start to drink water when they managed to get running water and after all the prohibition movements reached their peak?
>>86475
They had access to springs man. What I'm curious about is if there were ever methods of "chlorinating" their spring/well water
>>86490
I know that, silly!
But I've always read that beer and mead were common drinks in Europe at this time and water was more commonly had by the people who simply couldn't afford alcohol.
>>86490
The good folks at Wikipedia say any kind of water purification is relativity recent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification#History
>>86516
Just look at India today as >>86421 mentioned. In the west today we have a whole different mindset towards recycling then they do when it comes to plastics but at the same time a butcher in their country probably pick an animal clean and sells it while in the west we only eat some very specific parts, sorta like Europe was before.
>>86322
All trash used to be organic and metals rusted away.
>>86594
I think it was supposed to be a very low alcohol beer. Like 2-3% low. Just enough to kill pathogens.
>>86653
I hear that, but how would farmers know about pathogens? Do I misunderstand what pathogens are, maybe?
>>86594
Not at all times but that it was preferred by those who could afford it. Plus, it was a time in which water contained a lot of diseases and such and a time in which a lot of people made their own alcohol.
I don't think either they drank it in such huge volumes but I definitely think it was very important to people because it was the only "safe thing" to drink, in a sense.
>>86669
They didn't know WHAT it was but they knew it existed. They knew that water which has been standing still for a few days is probably not drinkable and they probably knew that people threw all sort of stuff into the lakes/rivers at this time which contaminated it, Hell, they probably dumped their stuff there as well.
>>86669
They wouldn't know the science but if their neighbors who had been drinking beer their entire life lived to 40 and their other neighbors who only drank water only lived to see 20 they would make those connections pretty quick.
>>86762
I wouldn't know about that, I'd say Germany and the Scandinavian countries have some of the healthiest cultures concerning trash and recycling.
>>86910
Malaria was actually really common in Europe for a long time, even up in the northern parts of Europe until it became common to drain marshes and swamps.
>>86422
That's metal as fuck. At what point in human history did we start giving a fuck about animals? To be completely honest if I had the chance I would totally participate in cart-based pig dismemberment.
>>86669
They noticed that drinking water made you ill and beer did not, they didnt necessarily understand that it was the boiling of the water that killed bacteria
>>86421
As an example, Medieval/Tudor/Elizabethan London was probably not as filthy as people probably assume.
There were large numbers of gongfarmers to empty private cesspits, 'scavengers' who were employed to clear the streets, as well as a host of ordinances that enforced fines on those who dumped human and animal waste in the street (people were responsible for the spaces outside their houses/business, though these rules were enforced to differing levels of strictness at different times).
One should also consider pre-modern people's attitudes to foul odours and filth. Disease was often considered to be caused by bad smells or miasma emanating from bad smells. So often one finds that medieval cities were strict on getting rid of the sight and smell of human waste without addressing the underlying causes (no sanitation system + seepage into drinking and utility water).
>>86935
Bullfighting is still a thing even though the EU recently cut the support it had given it financially quite recently.
