Ancient ostrich eggs have been discovered alongside a fire pit in Israel’s Negev region.
Israel Antiquities Authority announced the fragments of eight eggs in the Nitzana dunes on Thursday.
Excavation director Lauren Davis said in a statement that the site “was used by the desert nomads since prehistoric times,” and her team believes the 200 sq mile campsite could be up to 7,500 years old.
“At the site, we found burnt stones, flint, and stone tools as well as pottery shards – but the truly special find is this collection of ostrich eggs. Although the nomads did not build permanent structures at this site, the finds allow us to feel their presence in the desert,” Ms Davis continued.
“After the excavation, we will reconstruct the eggs, just like a puzzle. The whole egg may tell us the species, and exactly what they were used for. As far as I’m concerned, every eggshell is worth its weight in gold!” she explained.
Many of the ancient campsites had been covered by sand formations over many years, and have been relocated due to sand shifting that has once again brought them to the surface.
Mr Davis said the sand dune environment permitted the “exceptional preservation of the eggs,” which has allowed experts “a glimpse into the lives of the nomads who roamed the desert in ancient times.”
Now mainly located across swathes of sub-Saharan Africa and the Horn of Africa, Ostriches were a common sight in the Levant and Arabian Peninsula until their extinction in the 1800s.
A failed reintroduction of the North African ostrich was attempted in the Negev in 2004.
Ostrich eggs have been located in multiple previous excavations, and it appears they were once used for a variety of practical and ceremonial purposes.
The site excavation in the Negev desert (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images)
The site excavation in the Negev desert (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images)
“We find ostrich eggs in archaeological sites in funerary contexts, and as luxury items and water canteens,” IAA researcher Amir Gorzalczany told said on Thursday.
“Naturally, they were used as a source of food; one ostrich egg has the nutritional value of about 25 normal chicken eggs!”
“It is interesting, that whilst ostrich eggs are not uncommon in excavations, the bones of the large bird are not found.
“This may indicate that in the ancient world, people avoided tackling the ostrich and were content with collecting their eggs.”
Experts said that the proximity of the eggs to the fire pit is evidence they were deliberately collected and brought to the site of human habitation, rather than having been deposited there naturally by the birds. One egg was inside the fire pit structure.
IAA Director Eli Escuzido said the relics are set to be removed “to the new analytical laboratory in the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, where they will undergo further observation and research.”
The artefacts were uncovered by an IAA excavation started by the Jewish National Fund and the Ramat Negev Regional Council ahead of the development of an agricultural area for the nearby Be’er Milka community.
