Mystery over 200-year-old bottle of urine

Mystery surrounds a 200-year-old bottle of urine found on a Cleethorpes building site.

It was discovered by workers who were digging trenches at a property in Sea View Street last year.

The bottle was analysed by University of Lincoln student Zara Yeates who used a scanner usually used at crime scenes.

Ms Yeates said the builders initially thought it was a bottle of rum and were planning to drink it.

"Thankfully the project manager was on site and recognised the significance of the object," she said.

"But we have discovered that it is actually urine, not alcohol.

"So it's a good job the manager stepped in to stop them."

Ms Yeates told the BBC she had used a combination of techniques to decipher the bottle's age and contents.

She said the shape of the bottle was introduced in 1790 and its unevenness suggested it was hand-blown, adding that as moulds to make bottles were only introduced in 1840 it must have been made before that date.

A multi-spectral imager, which throws different wavelengths of light on the object, revealed the contents were bodily fluids, the main one being urine.

The university has suggested it is a so called "witches bottle" buried to keep evil away from the house.

Another theory is it was placed there by a sailor to ensure a safe journey.

Josephine McKenzie, senior technician in the university's Conservation of Cultural Heritage department, said it was rare to find a bottle this old completely intact.

"We often get a lot of ceramics, a lot of textiles, but we very rarely get glass especially something like this," she said.

"Zara's done amazingly well with figuring out the contents of it and has really exceeded our expectations."

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