How a museum artifact and modern chemistry revealed an ancient medicinal secret—and its unexpected connection to contemporary medicine
Roman doctors were remarkably creative in sourcing medicinal ingredients, drawing from an unusual pharmacological palette that included fecal matter from hyenas, crocodiles, and apparently, humans. Researchers have now uncovered the first direct chemical evidence that human waste featured in Roman pharmaceutical formulations, marking an intriguing intersection between ancient practice and modern science.
A surprising discovery in a museum collection
As reported here, the breakthrough came from an unexpected source: a nondescript glass vessel gathering dust in a museum. Cenker Atila, an archaeologist at Sivas Cumhuriyet University, spotted an unguentarium—a delicate, candlestick-shaped container originally designed for perfumes and oils—while cataloging items at the Bergama Museum. Dating to the 2nd century CE and sealed with clay, the vessel held mysterious residues begging chemical analysis.
Identifying the ancient remedy
Collaboration with İlker Demirbolat at Istanbul Kent University proved instrumental. Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, Demirbolat identified coprostanol and 24-ethylcoprostanol—two distinctive chemical markers of human feces—within the residue. The biomarker ratio confirmed the unmistakable signature of human digestive waste. Intriguingly, the researchers also detected carvacrol, a pungent compound responsible for the aromatic properties of thyme and oregano, suggesting these herbs were deliberately added to mask the unpleasant nature of the preparation.
Connecting to ancient medical authority
The chemical profile aligned perfectly with documented medical practice. According to the team, the formulation matched prescriptions from Galen (circa 129–216 CE), the influential Greek physician who practiced in Pergamon—the ancient name for Bergama. Remarkably, this discovery places the vessel in both the geographic and temporal orbit of one of antiquity’s most celebrated medical figures, making the find particularly compelling from a historical perspective.
While Galen’s writings primarily reference animal-derived excretory remedies, one passage specifically recommends human feces from children fed particular diets—a prescription that resonates with this archaeological discovery.
A parallel to modern medicine
The researchers draw an intriguing parallel to contemporary fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), a modern clinical procedure wherein fecal matter from healthy donors restores compromised gut flora in diseased patients. Though separated by nearly two millennia, both approaches harness the therapeutic potential of human waste, suggesting ancient physicians may have intuited what modern medicine now understands at the microbial level.
Scholarly perspective and broader context
Kassandra Miller, a classicist at Colby College uninvolved in the research, calls the work “exciting” and notes that Roman poets, including Horace, documented fecal ingredients in cosmetic preparations. However, she urges caution in overinterpreting the findings, pointing out that ancient physicians may have prescribed such remedies out of inherited tradition rather than unified medical theory.
Miller emphasizes an important historical context: the practice predates Roman medicine entirely. The “dreckapotheke” (German for “filth pharmacy”) flourished in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, civilizations whose medical systems profoundly shaped Greek and Roman practice. What appears novel to modern eyes may simply reflect the continuity of inherited medical wisdom passing through cultures over centuries.