Stoneware bottles found in the Royal Pharmacy in Warsaw

Abstract

The article discusses the set of stoneware bottles found during the archaeological and architectural research conducted at the turn of the 1980s at Plac Zamkowy (the Castle Square) in Warsaw. The works revealed remains of buildings in the Square, including the basement of the Royal Pharmacy. About 5000 movable artefacts were excavated, including 135 fragments of stoneware bottles and 20 intact or almost intact bottles.
The article classifi es those fi nds into four groups differing in morphological characteristics and then links them with the types proposed by B. Brinkmann. The bottles classifi ed in the first two groups (especially in group 1) are large, of a balbous, slightly egg-like shape, with lightly accentuated sides. Group 1 is characterized with thick necks threaded on the inside; matching stoneware stoppers were also found in the Pharmacy. Both groups 1 and 2 were classified as belonging to Brinkmann’s type J. The other two groups correspond to Brinkmann’s type D. Some were used for waters from Selters, others for waters from the Czech town of Bílina. In the analyzed set there was a fragment of a bottle with imprinted signs which can be considered alchemic symbols. The vessel may have been used for storing salt, considering its shape — probably in the form of a solution. Most of the analyzed artefacts were connected with the consumption of mineral waters in Warsaw at the turn of the 19th c. The fi nds confi rm that two types were supplied to Warsaw at that time: the Selters water from Westerwald and the water from Bílina (now in the Czech Republic). Mineral waters were distributed in Warsaw by pharmacies, and at least from the end of the 18th c. by specialized ones, newly established or extending their offers. The bottles found in the Royal Pharmacy contribute interesting data on the imports of mineral waters to Warsaw at the turn of the 19th c.