Archaeologists discover almost fully intact but nearly empty egg and three rare Islamic-period bone dolls in excavation of settlement dating from Byzantine period
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Jun. 9, 2021 12:10 PM
One day a thousand years ago, a chicken in Yavneh laid an egg. That egg was never to hatch, sadly for that chicken’s posterity. For some reason, it wound up in a cesspit in the ancient city’s industrial zone – and there it sat.
Until archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority came along, conducting a salvage excavation in the ancient industrial zone of the central Israeli city ahead of construction, and found it. Seasoned in the extraction of extremely delicate matter, they managed to remove the egg from the cesspit, still perfect.
By Gilad Shtern
Archeologist Alla Nagorsky holding the egg.
In the latest installment in the eternal debate over which came first, an intact chicken egg dating from roughly 1021 CE was discovered in Yavne, a city in central Israel, archaeologists announced Wednesday.
Found protected in a cesspit, the gem was discovered by Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists during their excavation of Yavne as part of an urban expansion project in the city.
Dr. Lee Perry Gal, a leading expert on poultry in the ancient world, explained the rare nature of the find.
“Eggshell fragments are known from earlier periods, for example in the City of David and at Caesarea and Apollonia, but due to the eggs’ fragile shells, hardly any whole chicken eggs have been preserved. Even at the global level, this is an extremely rare find,” she said. “In archaeological digs, we occasionally find ancient ostrich eggs, whose thicker shells preserve them intact.”
Maya Margit 06/09/2021
In a very rare find, Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a 1,000-year-old intact chicken egg in the central city of Yavne.
Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) were in the midst of conducting excavations on an ancient cesspit dating back to the Islamic period, or roughly the 10th century, when they stumbled across the exciting discovery.
Archeologist Alla Nagorsky, the IAA’s excavation director at the site, told The Media Line that she was stunned when she realized what they had found.
“The first thing I said was wow,” Nagorsky recounted. “I’ve been digging for nearly 40 years and I’ve never seen a whole chicken egg before. Eggs are so fragile that it is nearly impossible to find them intact.”
1600 year-old mosaic to go on display in Yavne
An impressive ancient mosaic found during archaeological excavations in Yavne is to go on show at the city’s cultural center.
The 1,600 year old mosaic discovered near Tel Yavne. Photo by Assaf Peretz, Israel Antiquities Authority
A 1600-year-old mosaic dating back to the Byzantine period (4th-5th Century CE), unearthed during an archaeological excavation near Yavne, is to be placed on public display in the plaza outside the city’s cultural center.
The joint initiative was launched by the City of Yavne, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Israel Land Authority.
Detail of the colorful mosaic discovered in Yavne. Photo by Assaf Peretz, Israel Antiquities Authority