500-year-old intact eggs found in Chinese tombs!

The Dhaka Times Desk Archaeologists in southwest China's Sichuan province recently said they discovered a jar of more than 500-year-old rice and intact eggs. Tang Yunmei, curator of the Guang'an City Museum, said the jar was found in a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) tomb in a park in Guang'an city. Its epitaph indicates that the tomb belongs to Yang Ming, who died in 1501, and his two wives.

Archaeologists in southwest China's Sichuan province recently said they discovered a jar of more than 500-year-old rice and intact eggs. Tang Yunmei, curator of the Guang'an City Museum, said the jar was found in a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) tomb in a park in Guang'an city. Its epitaph indicates that the tomb belongs to Yang Ming, who died in 1501, and his two wives.

Eggs with intact shells were placed inside the rice in the jar. The researchers said that it is yet to be verified how many eggs and how much rice there were.

Tang said the stone tomb was very well preserved and its wooden coffin had a good moisture-proof and anti-corrosion design with a 2-5cm layer of lime inside. The jar of rice and eggs was protected by a lid.

'The eggs were well preserved thanks to the careful construction of the tomb, which created an enclosed space with constant temperature and humidity,' explained the curator. The discovery of intact eggs in ancient tombs is said to be extremely rare in China.

Earlier in March, archaeologists discovered a jar of eggs, one of which was broken, from a 2,500-year-old tomb in eastern China's Jiangsu province.

On the other hand, in 2015, archaeologists in Guizhou province in southwestern China unearthed an egg from a tomb dating back more than 2,000 years, but the shell cracked when the researchers touched it with a cleaning brush.

Tang Yunmei, curator of the Guangnan City Museum, said the newly found egg jar has been preserved for lab analysis using infrared light. It is hoped that it will be possible to check the number and condition of the eggs without damaging them.