'Sophisticated' Public Toilet Ruins Found In Joseon Dynasty Palace

Illustration of Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, South Korea. (Wikimedia Commons/Richard Mortel)

JAKARTA - The remains of a public toilet with a state-of-the-art purification facility, thought to have been built some 150 years ago, have been found at the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) palace in Seoul, a South Korean government agency said Thursday, July 8.

The toilet ruins, which take the form of a rectangular stone pit measuring 10.4 meters long, 1.4 meters wide and 1.8 meters high, were found at Gyeongbok Palace in the heart of the capital, according to Ganghwa National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage.

The find is located in an area south of the crown prince's residence, called Donggung, Gyeongbok Palace, Joseon's first and largest royal palace, the agency said.

To note, this is the first time the remains of a toilet have been found inside a Joseon Dynasty palace in South Korea.

The ruins of a public toilet at Gyeongbok Palace, a legacy of the Joseon Dynasty. (Source: Yonhap via Korea Times)

The agency assumes that the public toilets were built in 1868 and were used by about 150 lowly officials, court ladies and soldiers who guarded the palace for about 20 years.

It explained that some Joseon documents and palace maps, as well as the discovery of parasitic eggs and cucumber, eggplant and perilla seeds from the ground, indicated the remains of the building were toilets.

The agency noted that traces of a purification facility similar to a modern septic tank were found in the wreckage. It has floors and walls built with stone to prevent leaking out.

Unfortunately, the Ganghwa National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage said it failed to find any traces of water that had entered the toilet, due to a malfunction at the entrance.

"A large palace toilet with purification facilities was unprecedented 150 years ago. This means that a unique and superior technology has already been implemented in our country," said an institute official.