Originally posted by kato
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Royalty, nobility, wealthy merchants, and members of the priestly class were people of means who had the wealth to have sit toilets, palaces, furniture, etc. created for them. These sorts of things have left behind archaeological evidence.
Everyone else squatted. I think it's a mistake to extrapolate the practices of the upper class for which there's archaeological evidence, as being representative for the rest of that ancient society. Especially given that it's a matter of proven historical record that squatting has been the predominant practice in Egypt, China, and India for the last several hundred years.
To me, common sense would lead me to make an educated guess that if 90%+ of the population of India, China, and Egypt were squatting as late as 1900 or 1950, or even later, they were also squatting in 2000BC, 1000BC, and 0AD.
It's also worth taking into account only a small portion of the world's population was urbanized until just recently. Ancient cities leave behind a wealth of archaeological evidence. 90%+ of the human population were non-urbanized. They've left behind far less archaeological evidence as to their practices. But again, we can look back just a few decades, or even the modern day, to see how non-urbanized people with few means do their business.
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