"These flush toilets are the first of their kind," Kim Gyeong Yeol, an archaeologist with the service, explained to Live Science. "They wouldn't have worked like modern-day flushing toilets do; rather, someone, a servant perhaps, would have poured water into them to allow them to flush. The water would have then carried the waste through a drain that emptied out at the end." Kim added that the fixture, which was used by the prince and the women closest to him, was hooked up to a device which "directly discharge[d] human waste into the river through a drain."
"That [it] directly discharges it into the river seems to have a hierarchical meaning," the archaeologist mused.
The kingdom, dubbed "Donggung" or "Crown Prince," was erected in 674 A.D. during the first chapters of the country's "unified Silla" period, which dated from around 668 A.D. to 935 A.D. This most recent excavation is just the latest in a long series of searches conducted on the grounds. Previous expeditions have revealed 26 buildings to date, as well as a wealth of artifacts such as bowls, plates, and bricks decorated with a flower pattern.
Related: These Ancient Warriors Ate the Brains of Their Enemies, Study Finds
These early flush toilets are the earliest known examples of such an invention in Korea, but they were used in other countries prior to 674 A.D. According to a 2016 study, Pakistan introduced flush toilets sometime between 2,600 B.C. and 1900 B.C., around the time the Egyptian pyramids were being built. These toilets were connected to drains, which emptied into a more advanced sewage system closer to those in use today. In 2021, scientists excavating a site in Jerusalem found a 2,700-year-old private toilet standing above a septic tank. The fixture was carved in limestone and used exclusively by "rich people," according to researchers.