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A bottle of urine that is over 200 years old has been uncovered on a construction site in Cleethorpes, leading to conjecture about its origins. Workers digging trenches at a property in Sea View Street recently discovered the bottle that had originally been thought to contain a bottle of rum. University of Lincoln student, Zara Yeates examined it using a scanner typically employed at crime scenes and discovered that the bottle’s last contents were in fact bodily fluids, the main one being urine. Using a range of techniques, Yeates was able to determine that the bottle was blown by hand and must have been created before the introduction of moulds for making bottles in 1840, suggesting it dates back to the late 18th or early 19th century.
As the bottle is believed to be a “witches bottle” it may have been buried to keep evil forces at bay. An alternative theory is that a sailor needed to ensure safe passage opted to bury it in the vicinity. The University of Lincoln hailed Yeates’ investigative abilities, saying that it was rare to discover complete artefacts of this age.
Josephine McKenzie, who heads the university’s Conservation of Cultural Heritage department, noted that whilst ceramics and textiles were commonly unearthed items, glass, particularly of this type, was quite unusual. Speaking to the BBC, she described Yeates’ investigation of the bottle as going “amazingly well” and that it had exceeded her expectations.
The existence of witches bottles in British folklore is well chronicled. The bottles themselves were typically filled with urine, wax or pins and buried in the foundations of homes as a charm to ward off evil forces or witches. It is believed that those who created such charms believed that the evil spirits that could cause harm would, in fact, be attracted to the bottle rather than the home itself
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