When I encounter old scat, I do a little dance my mother calls the “doody hop.” But if I were an archaologist, I suppose I’d roll up my sleeves and roll around in it with glee:

Researchers exploring Qumran, the West Bank site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, have dug up an ancient latrine that holds much historical significance. The poop chute seems to reveal the residents of Qumran buried their excrement, perhaps lending proof that they were part of the purity-concerned Jewish sect known as the Essenes. A debate has raged for decades whether these monks were Qumran’s inhabitants rather than farmers and soldiers, who presumably left their turds out to dry in the sun.

Ironically, the extreme lengths that the Essenes went to distance themselves from their crap (I believe we call it OCD in modern times) may have led to intestinal infestions of deadly parasites. Which goes to show you, being too clean will get you killed.

*Image: The book every family should own, Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi.