Oct 17, 2020 19:00:00

Why did people wipe their buttocks when there was no toilet paper?

Toilet paper, which recognizes its importance only when it disappears, is said to be the '

most undervalued cultural property ' invented by humankind. Science journalist Tara Soundtrack summarizes how people wiped their hips before such a great toilet paper was born.

What did people use before toilet paper was invented? | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/toilet-paper-history.html

According to Susan Morrison, a professor of medieval literature at Texas State University, it is very difficult to understand from archaeological evidence what people in the past used instead of toilet paper. Often, the alternative to toilet paper is organic and often has already disappeared. However, some items are left in books and records.

A 2016 survey found evidence that a bamboo stick wrapped in cloth was used as a substitute for toilet paper in China 2000 years ago, among the ancient toilet ruins found on the Silk Road. This stick is also called 'bamboo slips'.

It is also believed that in the ancient Greek-Roman world between 332 BC and 642 BC, a stick with a sponge called ' Tersorium ' was shared among people using public toilets. Tersorium appears to have been washed in salt or vinegar, or in running water flowing through the toilet, but some scholars also claim that tersorium was not used as a substitute for toilet paper, but as a toilet cleaning tool.

Also, in Greece and Rome, oval or round pieces of pottery are used as toilet paper, as archaeological evidence has found illustrations of pottery pieces with feces and men wiping their buttocks with pieces of pottery. It is also believed that there was a substitute. Especially in Greece, it was customary to wipe the butt with a piece of pottery with the name of the person who was exiled when the piece was banished. However, the fragments of the pottery could cause inflammation of the buttocks and external hemorrhoids.

Also in Japan from around the 8th century

shit stick has been said that the bar had been used that (loyalty). The idea of using wooden sticks instead of toilet paper has historically been widespread, but other than that, leaves, grass, stones, animal hair, and shellfish have also been used. Morrison states that medieval people used moss, hay, tapestry debris, and more.

The satire written by 16th-century writer François Rabelais describes the world's first toilet paper in the Middle Ages and Western Europe. Loveley was negative about toilet paper and ironically said, 'I prefer a goose neck.'

In modern times, due to technological development, toilet paper is being used all over the world, but during the COVID-19 epidemic, there was a shortage of toilet paper all over the world. In India, it is common to wash with water without using paper, so even during the COVID-19 epidemic, the advice to 'wash with water' became widespread, and 'toilet paper' will exist in the future. It is quite possible that will be replaced by another option.