The only known intact chicken egg from the Roman Empire in Britain was discovered during excavations in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

Oxford Archeology researchers who discovered the egg said the 1,700-year-old breakfast item was a “truly unique find” and were “shocked” when they discovered it still had contents inside. said. according to To the BBC. Edward Biddulph from Oxford Archeology said he and his research team had expected the interior to have oozed out over the centuries, but the yolk and white remained intact.

Although, egg The eggs are believed to have been discovered sometime between 2007 and 2016, but the discovery was not disclosed to the public until 2019. Even at the time, the extent of the discovery was “beyond expectations,” but the egg still had secrets to uncover.

Apparently one of those secrets was “a strong sulfur smell that those lucky enough to be there described as 'unforgettable.'” according to A Twitter post from Oxford Archeology.

Some discoveries are truly shocking and continue to get more and more exciting as research progresses, even years later. Berryfields (Aylesbury) eggs are a perfect example of this. @BucksCouncil blog program https://t.co/XUiYcoDsfS pic.twitter.com/2CveG0yyKv

— Oxford Archeology (@oatweet) February 12, 2024

Scanning work carried out at the University of Kent finally revealed its contents to the team. “It produced amazing images showing that apart from the egg being intact, which is incredible enough, it also holds fluid inside, probably derived from things like the yolk and albumen.” Biddulph said.

Experts from the Natural History Museum in London are also studying the eggs, focusing on the best way to preserve them for the future. Surely the obvious answer is to hard boil and pickle? (just kidding). (Related: Mayan 'superhighway' suggests we need to rethink how advanced our ancestors really were)

“There are also old eggs with contents, for example. [museum] “On display is a series of mummified bird eggs, probably excavated from the sacred animal catacombs at Dendera in Upper Egypt in 1898, but may be older than that,” the museum's Birds at the Museum said. said Douglas Russell, senior curator of the egg and nest collection. BBC. “But this is the oldest unintentionally preserved bird egg I've ever seen. That's what makes it so fascinating.”

The next step in the process is to remove the contents without damaging the shell. Why would the team want to do this? Science, that's why.