What Did Ancient Humans Use Before Toilet Paper?

Toilet paper on a roll is less than 150 years old. So what did humans use for the other 300,000 years? Leaves and moss. Three stones in ancient Greece. A shared Roman sponge on a stick. The first toilet paper in China. Castle toilets and the "gong farmers" who had the worst job in history. Corn cobs and old catalogues in America — and the water method much of the world still prefers today. Then: why flush toilets made paper win, and what the toilet paper panic of 2020 says about us. All research and sources are listed below. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Before toilet paper 0:31 Nature's toilet paper 1:27 "Three stones are enough" 2:24 The Roman toilet with no walls 3:32 China: the first toilet paper 4:21 The water method 5:20 Castles, gong farmers & corn cobs 6:53 Toilet paper is born 7:25 Pipes, the Great Stink & the 2020 panic 8:25 Team paper or team water? 📚 RESEARCH & SOURCES ▸ Charlier P. et al. (2012). "Toilet hygiene in the classical era." BMJ 345:e8287. ▸ Scientific American — Toilet Tissue: Anthropologists Uncover All the Ways We've Wiped: https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar... ▸ JSTOR Daily — This Is How They Wiped Themselves in Ancient Rome: https://daily.jstor.org/this-is-how-t... ▸ Atlas Obscura — The History of Toilet Paper: https://atlasobscura.com/articles/his... ▸ Medievalists.net — The Medieval Invention of Toilet Paper: https://www.medievalists.net/2020/03/... ▸ Medievalists.net — Comparing China and India in the 9th Century: https://www.medievalists.net/2015/05/... ▸ Farmers' Almanac — What Did People Use Before Toilet Paper?: https://www.farmersalmanac.com/what-d... ▸ Toilet paper (overview, Gayetty's 1857 Medicated Paper): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_... ▸ Gong farmer (Tudor England's night-soil workers): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gong_fa... ▸ NBC — The psychology of stockpiling: why people are panic-buying toilet paper (2020): https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/natio... Team paper or team water? Tell me in the comments 👇 #ancienthumans #history #toiletpaper #historyoftoiletpaper #ancienthistory #ancientrome #weirdhistory #humanhistory #historyfacts #prehistory #historydocumentary #explainer