Two shipwrecks from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), one laden with thousands of pristine porcelain objects, the other with wood logs, have been discovered deep under the South China Sea. The shipwrecks were discovered last October on the northwest continental slope of the South China Sea off the coast of Hainan island at a depth of 1,500 meters (just under a mile).

With the wreck of Ship No. 1, the remains of the ship itself are mostly obscured by tens of thousands of porcelain artifacts intended for export trade. The porcelain is so dense that there are stacked and nested vessels six feet deep covering 10,000 square meters (2.5 acres). Archaeologists estimate there are more than 100,000 individual pieces. Analysis of a few of the pieces suggest they were produced during the Zhentoku era (1506-1521).

Ship No. 2 was carrying raw wood. The timbers were uniform in size and carefully stacked. Initial analysis of the wood indicates the ship was a Chinese importer bringing in wood supplies from overseas in the Meiji-Koji era (1488-1505). They were likely intended for use in ship-building.

This is the first time a ship with export cargo and one with import cargo have been found in the same area. It is evidence of how well-established and widely-frequented in both directions sea routes were along the Maritime Silk Road. The two neighboring wrecks provide researchers a unique opportunity to study two-way traffic in the South China Sea 500 years ago.

Underwater archaeology in such deep waters poses enormous logistical challenges. This month, the cultural heritage administration of Hainan Province launched a new investigation to map the shipwrecks using a state-of-the-art manned submersible and a new permanent surveying and mapping base point installed in the seabed at the wreck of the first ship. This marks a significant leap forward in deep-sea archaeology.

China’s scientific research vessel Tansuo 1, equipped with the submersible Shenhai Yongshi, or Deep Sea Warrior, took researchers underwater for the exploration on Saturday. Chen Chuanxu, a scientist at the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, said that another vessel, the Tansuo 2, equipped with the submersible Fendouzhe, or Striver, will join the mission.

Advanced technological approaches, including soft robotics inspired by bionics and material science, were employed during the operation to salvage some of the relics from the shipwreck sites. New methods of scanning, photography and monitoring were also used.

“Speaking of protection and real-time monitoring of such a large underwater site at a depth of 1,500 meters, we have no precedent in the world,” Chen said, adding that the researchers are currently trying to remotely monitor the site.

The investigation will take place over about a year. The first phase will be a thorough survey of the wrecks. The second will entail a scientific evaluation of the preservation conditions of the wrecks. The third and final phase will be determining how best to protect the wrecks going forward.

A unique shell-shaped gold ruby red glass drinking cup by 17th century German alchemist, apothecary and glassmaker Johann Kunckel has been acquired by the Rijksmuseum. The deep, intense color of the red was produced by the addition of gold to the glass, a method and recipe pioneered by Kunckel. It dates to around 1685, Kunckel’s first decade as glassmaker to the court of Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg. Only about 20 of Kunckel’s early gold ruby red glass pieces are known, and the shape, style and engraving of this calyx cup is unique among them.

The chalice is engraved with a scene of putti frolicking around vines. The engraving is attributed to the master glass engraver Gottfried Spiller (1663-1728) who engraved several gold ruby ​​glasses. The glass is processed in such a way that it does not look like blown glass, but is more reminiscent of cut stone. This object therefore fits in with the tradition of the Kunstkammer, collections where wonderful objects from nature, science and art were brought together.

The fact that gold compounds add to glass could produce shades of red was known in antiquity. German alchemist Andreas Libavius wrote in his seminal text Alchemia in 1597 that dissolved gold created a red tincture that could be used to make “red crystal.” The first modern treatise on glass, written by Antonio Neri of Florence in 1612, also noted that gold can make red glass, but neither the ancient texts nor the later chemistry books included any information about the process or even a basic recipe.

The first person to record a functional method for obtaining ruby red glass was Bavarian chemist Johann Rudolph Glauber who in 1659 wrote that gold could be dissolved in a solution of a tin compound and hydrochloric acid. The gold would then precipitate from the solution as a purple powder later dubbed Purple of Cassius that could be added to glass to make it red.

Glauber’s experiments never delved into the making of the ruby glass itself. It was Johann Knuckel who as both an alchemist and a glass-maker, refined the recipe and process to create gold ruby ​​glassware. He published a treatise of his own on glass production and taught practical chemistry at the University of Wittenberg. In 1678, Prince Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, set Knuckel up on a secluded island near Potsdam with a glass-making factory where he could experiment and perfect his gold ruby glass production away from the prying eyes of competitors.

His was immensely successful and the glowing dark red glass he made was believed to be a new precious material, not just mere glass. Like rubies themselves, Knuckel’s gold ruby glass was thought to have health benefits particularly for illnesses of the blood. His work launched a fashion for ruby red glass at the end of the 17th century. Every sovereign and ruler at every court in Europe vied to own a gold ruby vessel, including the King of Sweden who poached the master away from the Elector in 1693 and gave him a noble title and estate. Johann von Löwenstern-Kunckel died in 1703 and the heyday of the ruby glass fad died with him.

Analysis of the bones and preserved brain tissue of nine 17th century patients of the main hospital in Milan has revealed the presence of codeine, morphine, noscapine and papaverine, all derivates of the opium poppy. This is the first time the presence of Papaver somniferum has been detected in historical and archaeological human remains.

The Ospedale Maggiore, also known as Ca’ Granda, was founded in the mid-15th century by Francesco Sforza, duke of Milan, to provide free health care for the poor. By the 16th century it was the city’s main hospital and held in high esteem throughout Europe for its innovative medical care, hygiene practices and treatment by specialized doctors. Some of those practices like the daily change of bed linens are givens today, but were revolutionary in the 1600s.

The hospital’s archives have been preserved from its founding in 1456 until it was closed in the 20th century. They provide a rich record of centuries of hospital administration and medical practices, including the medicines in its pharmacopeia. The records of the medications are incredibly detailed, listing plant and animal ingredients, how they were made and type of preparation.

Researchers seeking to verify the usage of drugs as described in the historical archives turned to another extraordinary record, this one archaeological: the hospital’s crypt. The Ospedale Maggiore had a dedicated burial crypt that was constantly expanded and used throughout the 17th century. An estimated 2.9 million bones lie in its 14 chambers today, the remains of more than 10,000 people who died at the hospital.

Bone and brain tissue trap traces of medicine that were in the body at time of death, so the research team took biological samples from the bones in the crypt and from brain tissue preserved by natural saponification (a process that converts organs into adipocere, in insoluble soap). Out of the nine samples of preserved brain tissue and eight cranial samples, toxicological analysis found alkaloids from different derivatives of the opium poppy in six of them, four from the brain tissue, two from the crania.

Specifically, noscapine, papaverine, and codeine (active principles of Papaver somniferum) were noted in preserved brain tissue, whereas in addition to these molecules, morphine was also detected in bone samples. The skeletons with traces of Papaver somniferum belonged to three females (including two young adults), one male, and one subadult of 11–12 years (for whom sex estimation could not be performed). In one case with positive toxicological findings, signs of ante-mortem trauma were seen on the left parietal bone with loss of bone tissue and possible trepanation. This could have been responsible for chronic inflammation and pain which may have been treated with the use of the Papaver somniferum plant at the hospital. […]

Papaver somniferum is present in the Ca’ Granda pharmacopoeia archives, showing not only that it was present in the pharmacy, but that it was also actively used as a medical treatment. Opium was listed in the apothecary’s archives as early as 1558 in form of laudanum or black poppy seeds; in the inventory list of 1604 the presence of white poppy seeds, black poppy seeds, poppy syrup and thebaic opium is reported, while in 1617 the hospital also introduced laudanum patches39. Additionally, according to the registries preserved at the former hospital, the doctors of the Modern Age, and in particular at the Ca’ Granda, used opium reduced to dried or juice pill (Capsulae sicca et succus capsularum inmaturarum) and as tincture of opium (Laudanum), as a narcotic, analgesic, astringent, coagulant, spasmolytic and antitussive. The findings presented in this research therefore confirm the archival data and implement our knowledge of the history of medicine in Milan.

The results of the study have been published in the journal Scientific Reports and can be read here.