Eggs are known to be not very stable. But a chicken egg in Israel survived undamaged for around 1,000 years – until researchers found it.
Yavne – eggs are fragile products: if they fall, their shell will not hold up – and they cannot be enjoyed for too long. It is all the more astonishing that a hen’s egg was preserved in Israel for around 1,000 years and that it fell into the hands of archaeologists in an intact state during excavations in the city of Yavne. The Israeli Antiquities Authority announced the find on June 9, 2021 on Facebook. According to this, the egg comes from the Islamic period and was discovered in a cesspool.
“Eggshell fragments are known from earlier periods, for example in the City of David and in Caesarea and Apollonia, but because of the fragile eggshells, hardly any whole chicken eggs have survived. Even on a global level, this is an extremely rare find, ”said Dr. Lee Perry Gal from the Israel Antiquities Authority, an expert on poultry in antiquity.
Israel: Researchers find 1000 year old egg
“Even today, eggs don’t survive long in supermarket cartons. It’s amazing that it’s a 1,000 year old find! ”Said Alla Nagorsky, an archaeologist who is involved in the excavations at the Yavne site. “The unique preservation of the egg is proven to result from the conditions in which it has lain for centuries, embedded in a cesspool in the soft human waste that has preserved it,” Nagorsky describes how the egg was found.
Despite the remarkable condition for its age, the egg could no longer withstand when it had reached human hands: “Despite the extreme caution with which the egg was extracted, (…) the eggshell – preserved by the unusual, anaerobic Conditions – broken, “writes the authority on Facebook. In the laboratory, the egg was returned to the state in which it was found. The crack in the shell leaked most of the interior, Perry Gal said. “Only some of the egg yolk remained, which will be saved for future DNA analysis.”
How the egg ended up in the cesspool is unclear. “We will never find out,” writes the antiquities authority. In addition to the egg, other finds came to light in the pit, such as toy dolls made of bones, which, according to the report, are typical toys in the Islamic period. (ial)
In Egypt, researchers recently excavated graves that are older than those of the pharaohs.
