Ananova:

Archaeologists considered arranging a tasting session after finding what they thought was a 300-year-old bottle of wine - only to discover it contained a rancid mixture of urine and pubic hairs.

The bottle, found in the foundations of a 17th century Surrey house, contained almost half a pint of urine, pubic hairs, an eyelash and a handful of bent pins.

They now believe it was used as a folk charm to ward off a witch's curse.

The bottle was discovered by archaeologist David Williams, who jumped to the conclusion that it was Jacobean wine.

"I managed to get a local vineyard interested and they arranged to open the bottle, test the contents and possibly organise a tasting," he said.

"When the cork was pulled there was a rather alarming hiss of escaping gas. They could find no trace of alcohol - or indeed anything organic. I then poured the contents through a strainer and out fell all these pins and other bits and pieces."

Witch bottles were made by people who believed their illness or misfortune, the death of family members or livestock, meant they had been cursed.

The bottles were intended to turn the curse back on the witch as long as the bottle remained sealed.

Alan Massey, a retired organic chemist from Loughborough University who carried out the analysis, said: "In this case the curse was intended to make the unfortunate object of it feel as if they were weeing with a bladder full of bent pins."

The occupants of the demolished house, near Reigate Castle, have not been traced and the owner of the witch bottle remains a mystery.