Well-preserved 500-year-old spices found on sunken ship

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On a royal ship that sank over 500 years ago off the coast of the Swedish Baltic region, a “unique” a supply of well-preserved spices, including threads of saffron, pepper and ginger, according to i24news.

King Hans of Denmark and Norway owned the Gribsunden, which sank off the coast of Ronneby. The ship is believed to have caught fire and sank when the king attended a political meeting on land in Sweden in 1495.

In the past few years, research has been carried out on a ship that was found by sport divers in the 1960s. Large objects such as figurines and wood. The spices were discovered in the silt of the boat thanks to excavations led by Lund University archaeologist Brendan Foley. substances are well preserved in the Baltic Sea, while they would not be preserved in other parts of the world ocean system. But to find such spices is rather unusual”, — Foley said, according to Reuters.

Only the wealthy could afford items such as saffron or cloves imported from outside of Europe. Thus, the presence of spices on a ship would be a sign of high rank.
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