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Archaeologists in Great Britain have recovered an intact chicken egg that dates to the Roman era roughly 1700 years ago. They were excavating the site of an ancient settlement in a place called Berryfields when they discovered four eggs among a number of preserved organic items in a waterlogged pit. Three of the eggs were still intact, but in the process of retrieval, two of them cracked, releasing long-stored hydrogen sulfide, the gas which gives rotten eggs their characteristic odor. The waterlogged pit provided an oxygen-free environment in which the eggs and other items would be able to survive without decay.
In ancient times, the pit was a sort of wishing well or shrine where people would leave offerings such as coins and food items, including eggs.
“Passers-by would have perhaps stopped to throw in offerings to make a wish for the gods of the underworld to fulfill,” [Archaeologist Edward Biddulph] adds. “The Romans associated eggs with rebirth and fertility, for obvious reasons.”
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“The eggs may have been carried within a funerary procession,” says Biddulph. “The procession stopped at the pit, where a religious ceremony took place and the food offerings were cast into the pit for the spirits of the underworld or in the hope of rebirth.”
The community ceased to exist after the Romans abandoned their British settlements in the fourth century. The region was later used for agriculture.
It’s remarkable that such a delicate object normally subject to decay could have been preserved for 17 centuries.
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Thanks to jotter (RIP) for creating it and elfling for restoring it!