Decorated ostrich egg (Villaricos, Almería)

Cuevas de Almanzora (Almería). Cultura púnica (Sala 15, Vitrina 5)

At the end of the 19th century, the archaeologist Louis Siret carried out new excavations in the necropolis of Villaricos. Many of the finds were in fragments and had to be restored to classify or consolidate them.

At the time, ostrich eggs were reconstructed by gluing the fragments together and sticking strips of card on the joints to reinforce them. These same strips or plaster were commonly used to reintegrate the missing parts.

Siret also made annotations on the decorative elements to use as coordinates for drawing life-size copies, and he would sometimes highlight odd lines with graphite to make the task easier.

He nearly always used coloured pencils to make the magnificent illustrations that provide researchers today with so much valuable information.