Archaeologists find well-preserved 500-year-old spices on Baltic shipwreck

Researcher Brendan Foley holds up a jar containing saffron preserved in water, part of a cache of unusually well preserved spices and foodstuffs found on the wreck of the Gribshunden, in his laboratory in Lund University, Denmark, March 2, 2023. REUTERS/Tom Little

LUND, Sweden (Reuters) - Archaeologists say they have uncovered a "unique" cache of well-preserved spices, from strands of saffron to peppercorns and ginger, on the wreck of a royal ship that sunk off Sweden's Baltic coast more than 500 years ago.

The wreck of the Gribshund, owned by King Hans of Denmark and Norway, has lain off the coast off Ronneby since 1495 when it is thought to have caught fire and sank as the monarch attended a political meeting ashore in Sweden.