All the toilet jokes aside, this discovery was quite interesting. We never really expected experts to discover a flush toilet in ruins around the world. But alas, here we are, and the archaeologists who found the ancient device in China were reported to be laughing as they dug it up from the ground.
A report made by China’s state news agency shared the news. The experts, who were from the Institute of Archaeology at the China Academy of Social Sciences, were excavating two large buildings in ruins of a palace located in the city of Yueyang when they made the discovery.
The toilet was estimated to be between 2,200 and 2,400 years old. This discovery means that it’s possible that the invention of flush toilets didn’t come from England, but possibly from China. This device, labeled as a “luxury object,” was probably used by high-ranking members of the palace. For the toilet to flush, the researchers believe that the servant would pour water into the toilet bowl.
"It is the first and only flush toilet to be ever unearthed in China. Everybody at the site was surprised, and then we all burst into laughter," Liu Rui, a member of the excavation team, shared.
Image credit: China.org.cn