200-Year-Old Message in a Bottle Found by Archaeology Students: See What They Discovered Inside!
Find out why this uncovered item from an ancient French village is particularly rare!
The idea of finding a message in a bottle has continued to captivate people of all ages throughout history. That recently proved to be the case once again when researchers in France made a 200-year-old discovery during an excavation that left them in awe. Keep reading below to find out more about how the unique message in a bottle was discovered and what the contents revealed.
How was the message in a bottle found?
A team of archaeological students were volunteering in the French town of Eu when they made the discovery. The site of their excavation (near the port town of Dieppe) was the former home of an ancient Gaulish village.
According to the Smithsonian magazine, the site sits on a cliff that’s being destroyed by erosion, so volunteers are regularly there with the hopes of uncovering as much as possible before the remains of the village are completely gone. To date, people have uncovered pieces of pottery and other artifacts. This find, however, certainly made waves!
“It was an absolutely magic moment,” excavation leader Guillaume Blondel told the BBC News. “We knew there had been excavations here in the past, but to find this message from 200 years ago—it was a total surprise.”
As shared in a Facebook post, the students actually discovered the salt bottle nestled next two coins inside another artifact: a clay pot. The bottle itself once contained smelling salts and was worn by women around their necks. But when the volunteers found it, they noticed a rolled up piece of paper inside the bottle that had been neatly tied with string.
What did the message in a bottle say?
After opening the bottle, the message was revealed to be not from a former civilian, but from another archaeologist who had once worked at the site. His hope was that others following in his footsteps would eventually find the bottle and enclosed note.
The message reads: “P. J. Féret, a native of Dieppe, member of various intellectual societies, carried out excavations here in January 1825. He continues his investigations in this vast area known as the Cité de Limes or Caesar’s Camp.”
Good News Network reports that local archives were able to confirm that an individual by that name spent time as a historical excavator when the note was dated.
“Sometimes you see these time capsules left behind by carpenters when they build houses. But it’s very rare in archaeology,” Blondel said. “Most archaeologists prefer to think that there won’t be anyone coming after them because they’ve done all the work!”
How often do these discoveries happen?
This isn’t the first time that a message in a bottle has been uncovered more than a century after being written. In fact, Guinness World Records reports that one was found in Australia in 2018. The note was revealed to be 131 years and 223 days old at the time that it was acquired.
The gin bottle had been thrown overboard in 1886 by a German ship captain, with the note containing the date and coordinates. This was apparently a very common practice between 1864 and 1933 when thousands of bottles were tossed out of ships. The reason? The senders were hoping to get a better understanding of water currents and ship routes—that is if the bottles were found in a reasonable time frame!
Though this bottle may not have been found at sea, the French archaeologist’s 200-year-old message has the potential to leave its mark on history. If it can be properly authenticated, it will take the record as the oldest message in a bottle ever found!
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