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The first intact bird egg ever recovered from a Romano-British context has recently revealed its possible contents, cementing it as a unique archaeological discovery in Britain, and perhaps in the world.
The egg was discovered during excavations in 2010 by Oxford Archaeology at Berryfields on the outskirts of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire (see CA 360). Located along the path of Akeman Street – an important Roman road that now lies beneath the A41 – the site yielded evidence of occupation that is thought to be linked with a nearby Roman town in the parish of Fleet Marston. The egg itself was found in a waterlogged pit – whose anaerobic conditions and soft wet silt helped to preserve it – along with two others that broke on exposure to the air. Other finds from the pit included a well-preserved basketry tray made of woven oak bands and willow rods, the remains of leather shoes, coins, and whole ceramic vessels. It is thought that at least some of these artefacts, including the eggs, may have been intentionally deposited, sometime between c.AD 270-300, as part of a votive offering.
Once post-excavation analysis of the site had concluded and the final report was published, the excavated artefacts were deposited in the collections of Discover Bucks Museum in Aylesbury. The team from the museum accepted the challenge of storing and preserving the fragile egg and, to learn more about it, last August conservator Dana Goodburn-Brown (from AMTeC Heritage Science CIC) took the egg to Chris Dunmore, a palaeoanthropologist at the University of Kent, to carry out a micro-CT scan. It was hoped that, since the egg is still complete, at least part of its contents may have remained intact, and the team were not disappointed. The scan revealed an apparently homogeneous liquid mixture inside – which could potentially derive from the albumen and yolk, and is something the team hope to explore further as conservation progresses – along with an air sac, which moved when the egg was turned (above).
Following the scan, in September Dana, Lucy Lawrence (from Bucks Council Archaeology Service), and Edward Biddulph (senior project manager at Oxford Archaeology) brought the delicate find to London – trying to avoid the many hazards that come with travelling on the Tube – to be examined by Douglas Russell, senior curator of the Birds’ Eggs and Nests Collection at the Natural History Museum. He and his conservation colleague Arianna Bernucci were very excited to have the chance to examine such a rare find as, while older intact eggs survive (for example, the museum holds a series of mummified ibis eggs from ancient Egypt), this is believed to be the earliest unintentionally preserved bird egg ever found in the UK, and perhaps the world.
Since there are no known parallels, there is no textbook on how best to conserve such a unique egg. The teams from Buckinghamshire, AMTeC, and the Natural History Museum are now collectively working to determine how best to stabilise and conserve the egg for long-term storage and/or display, as well as non-destructively analysing and potentially removing its contents for further study. It is also hoped that the bird species, and whether they were wild or domesticated, can be determined. In the meantime, the egg has been returned to the museum to await the next steps.
Text: Kathryn Krakowka / Photo: © Dr Christopher Dunmore, Imaging Centre for Life Sciences, University of Kent
