Archaeologists Make 1700-Year-Old Find – Now They’re Scrambling To See What’s Inside
By Christina Williams
Archaeologists Make 1700-Year-Old Find – Now They’re Scrambling To See What’s Inside

I’m not sure you can make a wish if you throw this down a well!

Fifty miles northwest of London is an ancient wishing well. It was used by Romans, who would throw objects into the well water, offering them to the gods for good luck. Now, nearly 2,000 years later, archaeologists are finding their wishes in what is now a muddy pit.

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There finds have been what you might expect – coins, ceramic pots, shoes, and eve a few bones dating between 270 and 300 AD. The site, called Barryfields, is part of an Iron Age Roman settlement. Oxford Archaeology has spent years digging at the site, and what they have found shows how these people lived so long ago. The well, researchers said, was likely used at first to get water for brewing ale. Later, it was transformed into a ritual place.

It’s the oldest unintentionally preserved egg in history. Photo courtesy Edward Biddulph

But it was one simple find that is baffling scientists – a 1,700-year-old egg, completely intact. More shocking: the egg still contained the liquid and the yolk, something is practically unheard of.  “Organic materials and liquids do not normally survive the depths of time unless in special circumstances,” said conservator Dana Goodburn-Brown.

(Bacterial) conditions at the site preserved the eggs (in place).”

This egg, researchers said, was found lying alongside three other broken shells. It is the oldest example of an avian egg that was preserved, unintentionally it seems. Oxford scientists think that the clay that made up the waterlogged soil kept oxygen from circling the egg, creating a cocoon around it that kept it from decaying.

As of now, the egg is staying in one piece. Scans have shown the liquid and the shadow of the yolk. What isn’t known, they said, was if it was ever fertilized. Regardless, at some stage the egg will need to be pierced for full examination.

“Researchers are planning to carefully extract the liquid to better study it,” said Edward Biddulph, Senior Project Manager, who oversaw the site excavation. “It’s a controlled process … where a tiny hole is made in its shell after creating a 3D model.”

The scan of the egg. Courtesy of University of Kent

Once they are able to test the liquid, they can see what species laid the egg. It’s suspected, but unknown as of now, that it’s a breed of chicken. Chickens were beloved by Romans and considered important in healing and connected to rebirth.

“Normally, we find eggs broken, fragments of shell, sometimes alongside the nail itself that ceremonially broke the egg. So, to find one whole is not just unusual in the sense of preservation, but also for having never been broken in the first place,” said Steven Ellis, a Roman archaeologist. “Eggs hold a place in Roman ritual, often associated with birth and fertility.”

“There is huge potential for scientific research,” said Edward Biddulph, senior project manager at Oxford Archaeology. “It is absolutely incredible.” It will take years, scientists said, for the entire site to be studied.

Once it is complete, the items, as well as the egg, will go on display at London’s Natural History Museum. “There is huge potential for scientific research,” Biddulph said. “This is the next stage in the life of this remarkable egg.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzK1Ki3r7ps

Sources: Atlas Obscura | Smithsonian