Parasites in prehistoric feces
Under the very special conditions existing in the salt mines, not only food remnants, pieces of clothing and tools have been
preserved in the salt, but also the miners excrement, and in it, the hard eggs of intestinal worms. Like all humans
living before and after them, people of the Hallstatt period were infected with parasites.
The excrement preserved in the salt mine attracted attention as early as 1868. At that time, it was not identified as human,
but described as excrement of a large domestic animal. Although its constituents were analysed more precisely
in the years following, and although the excrement could be identified as human, several decades passed before it was subjected
to detailed parasitological analyses.
Worm infections
Symptoms of intestinal worms
Body lice
Transmission of body lice
Symptoms of body lice
Worm infections
As in many other similar analyses, the parasitic eggs most frequently found in the Hallstatt samples were whipworm and roundworm
eggs. Both are still widespread parasites frequently found in humans. The worm eggs are excreted through the faeces, and infectious
larvae develop in the open. The worm eggs are acquired by ingestion. Children are particularly vulnerable because they tend
to put things into their mouths. People may also be infected through the fertilisation of field crops and vegetables with
human manure or by drinking polluted water. The miners could however not have been contaminated inside the mine, because the
low temperature would not allow the eggs to reach maturity.
Symptoms of intestinal worms
These worm eggs cause various disagreeable symptoms such as abdominal pain, colic, and diarrhoea, but also constipation. In
most cases, the disease is relatively harmless; massive infestations, however, may lead to severe complications.
Body lice
In addition to intestinal worms, the analyses have produced evidence of another parasite affecting the miners: the body louse.
The outer shells of these eggs (nits) have been preserved in pieces of clothing. Body lice are a serious threat, because they
may transmit the pathogenic agents of a number of infectious diseases, for instance spotted fever.
Transmission of body lice
The lice are transmitted person-to-person by body contact or exchanging clothes. The success of salt mining attracted many
people, who lived and worked in rather cramped and unhygienic conditions that favoured the propagation and transmission of
parasites.
Symptoms of body lice
The most frequent complaints would have been abdominal pain and itching, with worms found in the faeces and reddened skin,
and sometimes perhaps life-threatening fever. The people of the time had of course no knowledge about the mechanisms of parasite
transmission.
(Hoerweg, C. Sattmann, H. Picher, O. Aspoeck, H.)