A 340-year-old tin of cheese was discovered in the Kronan, a Swedish royal ship that sank in the Baltic Sea in 1676.
The Kronan was discovered in 1980 and since then has been the site of a number of underwater excavations resulting in over 30,000 artifacts being found.
The latest excavation dug up, among other things, a pewter tin of what researchers believe is a dairy product, possibly cheese.
READ MORE: Hundreds of shipwrecks pose environmental threat to Canada’s coasts
Lars Einarsson, director of The Kronan Project, told Global News the small amount of cheese and the specific type of jar indicates it could have been an “exclusive” cheese for someone of higher rank.
“From the marks on the jug we know it was made in Stockholm by Hans Moritz, a famous pewter maker. He made a lot of products for prominent people,” said Einarsson.
Einarsson and his colleagues were not too surprised the pewter jar survived the shipwreck and stood the test of time, but were shocked to find that the contents had been preserved.
“It was tucked into the clay [of the Baltic] and the contents were sealed into this jug, that’s why it was preserved so well,” he said, adding that the high salinity of the Baltic leaves the environment “very sterile.”
“It’s interesting to see the possibility of analysis and finding what the original content was,” he said.
Scientists will be analyzing the contents, which have been described to smell like a cross of yeast and Roquefort, in the coming months.
Comments