I've just come back from a trip through the Kurdish region of Southeastern Turkey and was lucky enough to come across an unusual find for PoopReport: the world's oldest recorded squat toilet -- a toilet that is at least 2,750 years old.
Cavustepe Fortress was built by the Urartian people near Lake Van, very close to the borders of what are now Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Its heyday was during the reign of King Sardur II, between 756 and 730 BC.
A splendid palace and temple were erected on the site (a hill overlooking a fertile and secure valley), together with storerooms and meeting halls. But the pièce de résistance of the whole complex is the King's restroom.
Whether he built this out of a sense of Shamefulness or mere regal dignity is unknown. The walls have now disappeared, but the carved stone squatter remains in position, commanding a fine view over the valley. It even had some rudimentary piping beneath, enabling the monarch's turds to be discreetly disposed through the cliff-side.
There was running water in a few buildings, but it's more likely that he used a jug of water to rinse his bung and flush his logs away.
