Archaeologist’s message in a bottle discovered 200 years later

Students working at an archaeological site in France made a surprising discovery: a message in a bottle from an archaeologist who worked at the same site 200 years earlier.

Guillaume Blondel, head of the town of Eu’s Regional Archaeology Service, said student volunteers were working on an emergency dig at the remains of a Gaulish village endangered by cliff erosion when they found the small glass bottle inside an earthenware pot.

They brought the bottle to Blondel, who opened it up and read the message inside.

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.”

“It was an absolutely magic moment,” Blondel told 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.”

Blondel said local records revealed Féret was a well-known archaeologist at the time and conducted his first dig at the village site 200 years ago.

“Sometimes you see these time capsules left behind by carpenters when they build houses. But it’s very rare in archaeology. Most archaeologists prefer to think that there won’t be anyone coming after them because they’ve done all the work,” he said.