Wiping

Not sure if you ever read Crichton’s Timeline (interesting, but I think the conclusions reached on the science are flawed) but one thing he hypothesizes is that in the Middle Ages (or is it Dark?) they used nice linens to wipe after defecating.

My question is, when did humans start to wipe? Just, no other animal does it, and they’re perfectly fine with it. I guess you can say other animals don’t bathe as much. But I dunno, I read that in history the Europeans didn’t bathe very often so when they came to Asia the Asians thought they were filthy. If they didn’t bathe much and were cool with it, maybe they didn’t wipe either.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think it would be interesting to find out when humans started wiping.