<![CDATA[A group of Polish archaeologists have managed to recover a 200 year old seltzer, considered to be among the oldest mineral water bottles, from the remains of a shipwreck located in the Baltic Sea. What makes this history news so unique is that the bottle of water managed to remain completely intact and undamaged despite being about 200 years old and surviving a shipwreck. The 12 inch bottle of water was found in the course of archaeological work from a shipwreck that is lying at depths of almost 40 feet in Gdansk Bay, located quite close to the Polish coast. Unfortunately, very little is known about the shipwreck till date. Archaeologists call the shipwreck Glazik (means boulders in Polish) or the F-33-3. The shipwreck contained a cargo of huge stones which suggest that the ship was used by construction workers to transport materials along the Baltic coast. According to archaeologists, this 200 year old seltzer bottle is by far the most valuable item to have been recovered from the shipwreck till now. According to Tomasz Bednarz, an underwater archaeologist who works at the National Maritime Museum in Gdansk, the 200 year old seltzer bottle is most probably the oldest cork bottle from the Selters that has been found till date. The Selters became famous for their naturally carbonated waters. They were discovered in the northern slopes of the Taunus mountains in Germany around the year 1000. However, it wasn’t until the middle to late 19th century that man fully managed to exploit the natural source of mineral water. The Selters soon became popular all over the world and it began being sold all across the world – right from Florence and St. Petersburg to New York and London. It was called as the Selters Liquid Treasure back then and was always delivered in uniquely designed clay jugs. The high quality water and refined tastes soon made Selters synonymous with the finest mineral water in the world. In fact, Selters was the prototype of the word famous Seltzer soda water. Experts believe that although not unexpected, it is still extremely rare to be able to find a fully corked bottle of Selters from the period in reference. Bednarz stated that the bottle definitely contained some liquid and he also seemed sure that it was definitely not sea water. Although this ancient Seltzers bottle is expected to contain the original Selters water, Bednarz also stated that he wouldn’t eliminate the possibility of the bottle being full of wine. He says that excellent shape in which Seltzer bottles were designed made them handy for storing other liquids as well, once the water was finished. Bednarz states that the advantage of corked bottles were that they could be used, reused and corked whenever required. He also stated that the group planned on checking the contents of the bottle. Hopefully, we should finally get an answer in a few days whether the bottle contained the purest form of mineral water or an old world wine, both of which sound to be a delicious prospect. ]]>
200 Year Old Seltzer Found in Shipwreck
