I agree as far as a electrolyte replacing soft drink of choice back then... vinegar drinks such as a shrub... mixture of fruit juices, water and vinegar or other alcohol. sounds a bit strange by our standards these days but a shrub will last months and the taste is not all bad. I know that the term shrub only goes back to about the 1740s but there are other terms for it such as Posca (Roman Army), and in German... Sauerwein. Apparently just mixing a bit of vinegar into water will kill much of the bacteria rendering it fit to drink for long periods of time.

Wow, awesome replies guys, great stuff.

The drawings/paintings/etc are really interesting... I assume beer or wine would have been inside of them instead of water, after reading the posts. Hmm, beer and wine had never occurred to me, fascinating.

I'm glad this thread will be around for future reference, I had used the search function and found no threads with similar subjects.

Heh, guess I'll stick with a bottle of water while working though, I don't think they would like it if I used beer. :p :eek:

Jason Pate of Tandy Leather, St. Paul has made some of these bottles. I've seen them in his shop before and he'd probably be willing to contract some more. The bottles are very nice at historical events because they can be documented, and you don't have to worry about dropping them after a few too many refills. ;)

You might check out Clang Armoury. They have a nice collection.

Marc Blaydoe

I agree that ancient warriors drink water, not wine, from gourds or horns even on the battlefield just like soldiers drink from canteens today. When they run out of water they will head to the nearest water source (if available).

This thread might be old, but I just let you know that practical field tests can be done!

I have finished my first attempt at a Mary Rose-style leather flask. It took a lot of time to stich up, I made a few mistakes along the line, but overall Im quite happy so far. The whole business of handling lots of hot wax and coating the inside was not nearly as hard as I imagined it to be. I still have 10 fingers and 2 eyes :D

---

 Attachment: 26.42 KB

before moulding

 Attachment: 30.12 KB

waxed and dyed