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Now here's a very special tale of poop, fish, bugs, and archaeology that gives us an insight into the changes societies go through over time. Not one for the faint-hearted, however - THREAD! 1/ 
The folks at the @uniofoxford Schools of Zoology & Archaeology recently conducted a survey that covered Europe, across a variety of eras, examining the parasites found in ancient human poop. 2/
Why parasites? Well, certain parasites can be definitively associated with certain types of meat, giving us a handy glimpse into diet. Certain types of parasites are also fairly resilient - their 'shells’ helps preserve their DNA. 3/
The survey came up with a wealth of data, but some of the most interesting came from a dig in the German city of Lübeck, close to the Baltic Sea - a dig on the site of a series of medieval latrines, to be precise. 4/
In the coprolites - ancient poops - retrieved from the Lübeck tatrines, huge concentrations of Diphyllobothrium latum, a tapeworm found in fish that isn't properly cooked properly, were found. 5/
This makes sense - Lübeck is on a river - on an island, really - and as I said, it's not far from the Baltic. It makes sense that the people of Lübeck ate a diet heavy in fish. /6
That is, however, until around the year 1300. All of a sudden, the number of Diphyllobothrium latum declined in the recovered coprolites, and the number of Taenia Saginata - a beef-based parasite skyrocketed. /7
Obviously something happened at this point of time, but what? We know that Lübeck was powerful in the Hanseatic League, the trading conglomerate that dominated northern Europe for 300 years. /8
Could it be that around 1300 was when Lübeck really began to either prosper enough for beef to become affordable, or that tanning & leather-working became ubiquitous enough for beef to flood the market? /9
Another fascinating glimpse that the study of parasites gave us, is the fact that Lübeck showed the most genetic diversity in parasite DNA, only matched by Bristol, suggesting they were *the* massive trade hubs of the medieval era. /10
Much of this we already knew from the historical record, but to have it backed up by biology is really something else - another level of certainty, more understanding. /11
If you want a good recap of the study, I recommend this summary from the @uniofoxford. /12 zoo.ox.ac.uk/article/tapewo…
You can read the @uniofoxford study, as published by the @royalsociety here! /13 rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/285/18…
Hope you enjoyed that! Do let me know if there's any archaeological or historical news I should be covering - I'm *always* interested. Oh, and for goodness sake, wash your hands! /FIN
