Hello Paul,

I just happen to have two unexploded mortarshells from the 1759 siege in an
Army munitions laboratory for analysis. I haven't yet been advised if they
can
be safely opened or not. They were excavated earlier this fall on the same
site where we excavated an explosion crater in 1992! I will keep you
informed.

I too would be interested in hearing of any other reports of chemical
analysis
of this type of material.

_________________________
William Moss RPA

Archéologue principal
Design, Architecture et Patrimoine
Service de l'aménagement du territoire
Hôtel de Ville
CP 700 Haute-Ville
Québec (Québec)
Canada G1R 4S9
Tél. : 418.641.6411, poste 2149
Fax  : 418.641.6455
[log in to unmask]
www.ville.quebec.qc.ca
_________________________

Seeing the question about bottle contents reminded me of an old interest of
mine in hand grenades and mortar shells (grenadoes) - (purely academic if
the
CIA or MI5 is monitoring this)- I once wrote up some 17th century ceramic
hand
grenades. I am interested to know if anyone has every done chemical analyses
of mortar shell contents as these and hand-granades are sometimes recovered
with their wooden fusees intact. In most cases I have come across they seem
to
have washed out as quickly as possible or the shells buried due to safety
worries.


paul courtney
Leicester
UK