How Dirty and Unhygienic Were People in the Middle Ages?

"It's an old lie that medieval towns stank and were full of dirt and filth, dead carcasses in the streets, piss, cows, and God knows what else," says archaeologist Axel Christophersen.

After a moment’s thought, he concedes that there may have been some truth to this picture.

"But that doesn't mean people didn't have methods and routines for dealing with waste," he says.

Since 2017, Christophersen has led a research project investigating health in medieval towns, using Trondheim – then known as Nidaros – as a case study. The period examined stretches from the 11th century to 1600.

This was when medieval towns emerged and grew, with increasing numbers of houses and more people living close together. These towns have long had a reputation for being extremely dirty, unhygienic, and disgusting.