Elixir Of Long Life – Modern Attempt To Achieve Gods’ Immortality

| June 19, 2014 | Archaeology News | No Comments

MessageToEagle.com – Myths and legends from all across the world tell of immortal gods and goddesses.

Our ancestors believed that by eating or drinking a special substance one could achieve immortality, just like the gods. The so-called ‘Elixir of Long Life’ was once believed to be capable of cheating death.

During an excavation beneath a hotel construction site in China Town, New York that once contained medicinal remedies, a group of archaeologists unearthed hundreds of bottles detailing drinking and eating habits from 150 years ago.

A team of archaeologists is to recreate a liquid concoction once used for medicinal purposes. Chrysalis Archaeology claim a remedy known as the Elixir of Long Life was believed to have once been stored in a glass vial (pictured), which was found beneath a construction site in New York Image credit: Alyssa Loorya

A team of archaeologists is to recreate a liquid concoction once used for medicinal purposes. Chrysalis Archaeology claim a remedy known as the Elixir of Long Life was believed to have once been stored in a glass vial (pictured), which was found beneath a construction site in New York Image credit: Alyssa Loorya

According to DNA Info the scientists “discovered a tiny, greenish glass bottle that once contained the “Elixir of Long Life.” The bottle found amid a cache of 150-year-old liquor bottles beneath what was once a German beer garden sparked the archaeologists’ curiosity, and they decided to hunt down the original recipe so they could try the elixir themselves.

“We decided to engage in our own brand of experimental archaeology,” said Alyssa Loorya, the president of Chrysalis, a company regularly hired by the city to oversee excavation projects. “We wanted to know what this stuff actually tasted like.”

A second bottle once containing a drink known as Dr Hostetters Stomach Bitters, another popular medicine used to apparently cure ailments, was also unearthed (pictured). It is a bit harder to make, though, with ingredients including peruvian bark and gum kino
A second bottle once containing a drink known as Dr Hostetters Stomach Bitters, another popular medicine used to apparently cure ailments, was also unearthed (pictured). It is a bit harder to make, though, with ingredients including peruvian bark and gum kino

Loorya enlisted colleagues in Germany to help her track down the recipe in a 19th-century medical guide. After they translated it for her, she discovered it contained ingredients still used by modern-day herbalists: aloe, which is anti-inflammatory, and gentian root, which aids digestion. Mostly, though, the elixir was made of alcohol.

The recipe, engraved on the bottle, contained aloe, an anti-inflammatory; gentian root, a digestion aid; as well as rhubarb; zedoary; and Spanish saffron.

Along with the finds in this early American historical dig, were two still-full bottles of Dr Hostetters Stomach Bitters. This once-popular 19th century herbal medicine contained a mixture including Peruvian bark, an anti-malarial herb; and gum kino, a type of tree sap that is reputed to be antibacterial.

In spite of the claims, however, there is no evidence that this mixture significantly increased the consumer’s lifespan. Did the archeologists find a true “Elixir of Long Life”, or just early American snake oil?

MessageToEagle.com 

Related Posts