Plumbing has been around for centuries -- here are some of the great innovations from ages past.
This timeline pieced together by QS Supplies shows the development of plumbing going back to 2,600 B.C. A notable stop along the way is Elizabethan England, which gave us the first flushing toilet:
Like everybody else in those times, Queen Elizabeth the First had a bath once a month. Before indoor plumbing, bathtubs were simply filled and emptied by hand. Using the toilet was another matter altogether. The Queen’s Godson, John Harington invented the first flush toilet for the Queen at her residence at Richmond Palace.