Pretty much what the title says... Ive been doing a lot of reading lately trying to learn about the daily lives of native peoples who inhabited Southern California (and the Southwest in general).
Today I realized I dont think I have seen a single reference to what ancient people did regarding waste. I have seen a couple places where how they cared for babies is documented (moss or other soft natural material stuffed into the baby's carrier) but nothing about adults!
Anyone have some info on this subject?
Generally they buried it. We often find coprolites (what archaeologists call poop) near or in trash middens and pits. It's actually one reason we like studying middens, because coprolites are a great way to analyze diet and certain types of disease in historical populations. I've even seen the poop content of middens used to estimate Hohokam populations in Phoenix.
With that being said, occasionally coprolites are found in less respectful places. That's the kind of crap archaeologists spend years arguing over.