Researchers discover Crusades-era grenades in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter

PanARMENIAN.Net - Researchers have discovered grenades that were used in the time of the Crusades within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. In a recent study, the remains of elements of the grenades were analyzed and explosive materials were found inside them.

In the analysis of the objects found in the Garden of Armenia in Jerusalem, these 900-year-old objects were identified to have possibly been hand grenades, The Greek Reporter says.

Researchers tested residues on sherds from four sphero-conical vessels, which they dated to the 11th or 12th century.

Chemicals indicative of medicine and oils were found in three of the vessels, but the fourth vessel contained a unique combination of plant-based oils, animal fat, and nitrates, indicating something that was built to explode.

The several sphero-conical vessels excavated from the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem between 1961 and 1967 are artifacts attributed to the Mamluks at the time, a group of enslaved soldiers that eventually won political control across swathes of the Middle East and fought the Crusaders.