The kit contains pills made of ground-up vegetables, herbs and plants such as celery, carrots, and chestnuts and was so well sealed that they miraculously survived being under water for over two millennia. The wooden chest also contains extracts of parsley, nasturtium, radish, yarrow and hibiscus.
They were found in tin-lined wooden vials on a 50 feet-long trading ship which was wrecked around 130 B.C. off the coast of Tuscany.
Scientists believe they would have been used to treat gastrointestinal complaints suffered by sailors such as dysentery and diarrhea. "The plants and vegetables were probably crushed with a mortar and pestle." The pills are the oldest known archaeological remains of ancient pharmaceuticals.
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