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Ancient Book of Psalms Found in Ireland Bog
Newsmax ^ | July 26, 2006 | Newsmas

Posted on 07/25/2006 8:00:35 PM PDT by I still care

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker who spotted something while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.

The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.

"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration and facing years of painstaking analysis before being put on public display.

"There's two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out. First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."

He said an engineer was digging up bogland last week to create commercial potting soil somewhere in Ireland's midlands when, "just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer, he spotted something." Wallace would not specify where the book was found because a team of archaeologists is still exploring the site.

"The owner of the bog has had dealings with us in past and is very much in favor of archaeological discovery and reporting it," Wallace said.

Crucially, he said, the bog owner covered up the book with damp soil. Had it been left exposed overnight, he said, "it could have dried out and just vanished, blown away."

The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

Wallace said several experts spent Tuesday analyzing only that page - the number of letters on each line, lines on each page, size of page - and the book's binding and cover, which he described as "leather velum, very thick wallet in appearance."

It could take months of study, he said, just to identify the safest way to pry open the pages without damaging or destroying them. He ruled out the use of X-rays to investigate without moving the pages.

Ireland already has several other holy books from the early medieval period, including the ornately illustrated Book of Kells, which has been on display at Trinity College in Dublin since the 19th century.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: bog; bookofpsalms; earlychristianity; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; ireland; israel; psalm83; psalter; religion
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To: dila813

I'm not surprised that the vellum was preserved in the bog but I am surprised that the ink didn't react with the acids from the bog...or maybe the ink did react and just changed color or reacted with the vellum, rendering the text still readable.

Vellum is incredibly durable. I have several manuscripts on vellum and they are in much better condition than documents on paper that are hundreds of years younger. The ink usually has some fading depending on how much it is exposed to the air. Vellum documents that have been folded against themselves or other sheets of vellum are frequently as pristine as the day they were written because the vellum tends to seal out the elements.


21 posted on 07/25/2006 9:01:31 PM PDT by RouxStir (No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: xzins; P-Marlowe; blue-duncan; Corin Stormhands; Revelation 911

I for one don't believe in coincidence. Thanks for the ping.


22 posted on 07/25/2006 9:06:25 PM PDT by Buggman (L'chaim b'Yeshua HaMashiach!)
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To: dila813

It seems to be a word for word rendering of a pronouncement from Hezzbollah headquarters, doesn't it?

"Let us destroy them as a nation..."


23 posted on 07/25/2006 9:08:11 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Supporting the troops means praying for them to WIN!)
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To: monkeyshine; dila813; Buggman

Read this post #145. This stuff sure makes you think, doesn't it?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1671291/posts?page=145#145


24 posted on 07/25/2006 9:09:44 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Supporting the troops means praying for them to WIN!)
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To: I still care

Very, very interesting. Thank you for posting it.


25 posted on 07/25/2006 9:10:35 PM PDT by skr (We cannot play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.-- Ronald Reagan)
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To: I still care
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

Open the last page and tell us how it ends!

26 posted on 07/25/2006 9:13:19 PM PDT by operation clinton cleanup
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To: dila813

Yes - very intersting. Working on the meaning of some of the other city names. Of course we know: Phillistia is Palestine.


27 posted on 07/25/2006 9:26:18 PM PDT by sasha123 (Pray for the peace of Israel)
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To: SunkenCiv

Ping for the GGG list and check out the other thread mentioned.


28 posted on 07/25/2006 9:42:02 PM PDT by Founding Father (You cannot wage a war in a politically correct manner and win.)
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To: VoiceOfBruck

very interesting...


29 posted on 07/25/2006 9:48:17 PM PDT by Zechariah_8_13 (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.)
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To: dila813

It is written!


30 posted on 07/25/2006 10:08:07 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: xzins

Yep. Nothing is a coincidence.


31 posted on 07/25/2006 10:17:23 PM PDT by monkeyshine
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To: Founding Father
Thanks FF. I'll ping the other thread but add both to the catalog.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

32 posted on 07/25/2006 10:18:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (updated my FR profile on Wednesday, June 21, 2006. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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BTTT


33 posted on 07/25/2006 10:34:34 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: Mrs Zip

ping


34 posted on 07/26/2006 2:33:08 AM PDT by zip (((Remember: DimocRat lies told often enough become truth to 48% of all Americans (NRA)))))
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Comment #35 Removed by Moderator

To: Grannyx4
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

hmmmmmm...

36 posted on 07/26/2006 6:08:29 AM PDT by LongElegantLegs (You can do that, and be a whack-job pedophile on meth.)
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To: I still care
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

Maybe God is trying to tell us something.

37 posted on 07/26/2006 6:11:38 AM PDT by rintense
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To: I still care

Not coincidence.....Providence


38 posted on 07/26/2006 6:13:29 AM PDT by Guenevere (Israel, our friend and ally.....God bless her.)
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To: xzins
Coincidence? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmm.........

I've heard tell, not sure if it's true, that orthodox Jews teach their children that there is no such thing as coincidence.

39 posted on 07/26/2006 6:16:28 AM PDT by houeto
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To: Convert from ECUSA

Ping! Can't believe this was running on CNN today complete with the quote regarding Israel.


40 posted on 07/26/2006 7:54:52 AM PDT by timsbella (Mark Steyn for Prime Minister of Canada! (Steve's won my vote in the meantime))
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