• Royal ship that sank more than 500 years ago was found to have a “unique” cache of well-preserved spices.
• King Hans of Denmark and Norway owned the Gribshund.
• It was sank while the king was attending a political gathering on land in Sweden in 1495.

A royal ship that sank more than 500 years ago off the coast of Sweden’s Baltic region was found to have a “unique” cache of well-preserved spices, including strands of saffron, peppercorns, and ginger, according to archaeologists.

King Hans of Denmark and Norway owned the Gribshund, which is now a wreck off the coast of Ronneby. It is believed that the ship caught fire and sank while the king was attending a political gathering on land in Sweden in 1495.

After being rediscovered by sports divers in the 1960s, the ship has undergone sporadic excavations in recent years. Previously recovered items included figureheads and timber. Now, an excavation led by Brendan Foley, an archaeologist at Lund University, has discovered the spices buried in the boat’s silt.

“The Baltic is strange because it has low oxygen, low temperature, and low salinity, so many organic things are well preserved in the Baltic that would not be well preserved elsewhere in the world ocean system,” Foley explained. “However, finding spices like this is quite unusual.”

Given that only the wealthy could afford items like saffron or cloves that were imported from outside of Europe, spices would have been a sign of high status. King Hans would have been accompanying them as they travelled to Sweden to attend the conference.

Researcher Mikael Larsson of Lund University, who has been analysing the findings, said: “Only in this particular archaeological setting have we discovered saffron. It is therefore very special and one of a kind.” (Editing by Rosalba O’Brien; reporting by Tom Little)

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