After 1,700 years, the ancient Roman chicken egg found in the United Kingdom in an excavation west of the town of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, is still intact and full of liquid.
This was revealed by the results of the , the local authority announcing the discovery on its website.
The egg is the only one known so far to have been preserved for so long in a completely natural way, without any intervention by man.
It was found during excavations conducted between 2007 and 2016 for the construction of a residential complex, inside a Roman-era cavity filled with water: according to researchers it could have been a sort of wishing well in which they threw religious offerings.
Other finds were also found inside, such as animal bones, leather shoes, tools, ceramics, coins and a woven basket.
There were also three other eggs, which however were accidentally broken, releasing the pungent sulphurous smell typical of rotten eggs.
The only specimen that remained intact was instead transported to the Natural History Museum in London for further non-invasive scientific analysis.
From the X-ray microtomography it was possible to observe that there is still a liquid inside: the scans do not show a separation between the yolk and the albumen, which probably mixed together over the centuries.
There is also a small air bubble between the liquid and the egg shell.
Researchers are already at work to better plan the next investigations and to guarantee the conservation of this very rare find.
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