The egg was one of four found in a waterlogged Roman pit in Aylesbury, England, during an excavation in 2010. Two eggs broke as they were removed from the site due to their extremely fragile shells, releasing an “unforgettable sulphurous smell”, as the Guardian’s Steve Morris says.
Experts think the eggs were placed next to the pit as an offering. The pit was used as a well for brewing beer until the late third century, where people would place small objects as sacrifices – this egg potentially being one.
A team at the University of Kent conducted a micro-CT scan of the egg, which revealed that its liquid interior remains - a mixture of its yolk and albumen. From the scans, it has not been possible to identify the yolk from the albumen as the two have mixed together over time.
Edward Biddulph, senior project manager at Oxford Archaeology, said “we might have expected it to have leached out over the centuries, but it is still there". Biddulph further claims that "there is a huge potential for scientific research" and that this is only the beginning of an incredible discovery.
The egg is now being kept in the Discover Bucks Museum in Aylesbury as conservators figure out how to extract its contents without damaging the shell. They hope to discover exactly which species laid the egg and its significance.
