Urgh! 800-year-old book found down the toilet

Archaeologists have discovered a very well preserved medieval notebook inside a German toilet!

Scientists were surprised to find the notebook - made of leather, wood and wax - in such good condition.

The team believe that the notebook survived because the toilet created a damp, airtight environment that protected the materials from oxygen and decay.

They hope it will shed light on everyday life over 800 years ago.

Whilst it might take a while for the text to be transcribed, archaeologists are currently focusing on the materials used to make it.

The notebook consists of ten pages, of which eight pages are double-sided, and the first and last pages were filled only one-sided with wax.

The wax pages allow the owner to write notes with a pointed stylus (a writing tool used to scratch letters into wax pages) and later smooth the surface flat for reuse.

They believe the text in the book has been written by a single person.

The discovery was made at a latrine in North Rhine-Westphalia.

A latrine, is a simple, sometimes communal toilet such as a trench dug in the ground.

Whilst finding something like this in a toilet might sound unusual, the scientists say: "It sounds strange, but for us archaeologists, the latrine is almost always a treasure pit.

"Packed in a wet clod of earth - and initially quite inconspicuous - the object only became clear during cleaning in our restoration workshop in Münster.

"And indeed, even after so many centuries in the ground, the latrine find still had a rather unpleasant odor," said conservator Susanne Bretzel. Yuck, who knew?

And the notebook wasn't the only find in the medieval latrines.

The archaeologists also uncovered barrels, pottery, knives, basket fragments, and pieces of silk fabric.

Isn't it amazing how much history can be found down a toilet?!