Dear Zooarch Community,
I have come across a mysterious egg-like object in the faunal assemblage of a Maya site in eastern Guatemala. The date is roughly 500 AD. By all rights any egg shouldn't survive out there, and I'm inclined to believe it's a rock of some sort, possibly a speleothem. However, I have no experience working with eggs or eggshells, so I wanted to pass it by the listserv in case someone might be able to identify it, or at least confirm that it's definitely not an egg.
Here is a link to the photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/puns6ur3jj5vgc8/AAA2b-X-a4yOOTvx5u1UUUc-a?dl=0
The object is smooth on all sides, with no indication that it had been attached to something else. The "shell" is fairly thick, a millimeter or two in some places from what I could see of the piece that broke off. There is no animal I'm aware of in the Guatemala area that would lay an egg this size.
Unfortunately these are the only photos I have of the object at the moment, since I am no longer in Guatemala and could not remove it from the excavation storage site.
I greatly appreciate any help/ideas/advice you might have.
Best,
Ashley
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Ashley E. Sharpe
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Anthropology
University of Florida
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