As long as man did not have an established abode, he did not have a toilet. He excreted wherever he felt like doing so. When man adopted the idea of a fixed house, he then moved the toilet to a courtyard and then within his home. Once this was done, it became a challenge to deal with smell and the need was felt to have a toilet which could intake human wastes and dispose of out of the house instantly to maintain a standard of cleanliness. Man has tried many variations of this, i.e. chamber pots which were cleaned manually by the servants or slaves, toilets protruding out of the top floor of a house or castle with the disposal of wastes through a river below, common toilets with holes on the top and a flowing river or stream underneath - or in many instances people would just enter a stream or river and dispose of the waste directly.

Sitting type toilets in human history appeared as early as 2500 BC being water borne toilets linked between houses with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. Archaeological excavations confirm the existence of sitting type toilets in Egypt (2100 BC). Although the mechanics of working these toilets had been achieved, the basic format of the system remains the same. In Rome, public bath-cum-toilets were also well developed with holes in the floor above flowing water. There was no shyness in the use of toilets. It was frequent to see at dinner parties in Rome, slaves bringing in urine pots made of silver, while members of royalty relieved themselves and continued to socialise at the same time.