Be really really careful. The only early UXO we've found here in Kansas is
Civil War and it is highly unstable.

John Dendy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: William Moss [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 8:22 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: Mortarshell  contents
> 
> 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