Joe Clancy displays the ancient bog butter which he found this week In Ballard bog on the outskirts of Tullamore, County Offaly.
Posted on 05/11/2011 1:54:17 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Peat cutter said the ancient food still smells of dairy
Over 100 pounds of "bog butter" have been discovered in Tullamore, County Offaly. This ancient food substance, thought to been buried as a form of refrigeration, is thought to be 5,000 years old, dating from the Iron Age.
Brian Clancy and his uncle Joe were cutting turf in Ballard Bog when they made the discovery.
Joe explained "We were cutting turf and I found what looked like a huge piece of timber...We took it out with a spade and it turned out to be bog butter." Speaking to the Irish Times he said "It looked like a keg or an urn with two handles and a lid carved from a solid piece of wood."
The container has carving marks around the edges with a removable lid with handles and holes, possibly for carrying. The wooden vessel measures a foot in diameter and is almost two feet tall. The 100 pound container was buried seven-feet down.
Theories about exactly what "bog butter" is vary. Some believe it was a special type of butter made at a certain time during the years and buried so that it might be preserved. Joe said the butter still has a dairy smell. In the past some "bog butter" that has been tested has been meat based.
When the men found the container Joe returned to his house and researched bog butter on the Internet. He then returned to the bog and "filled a wheelbarrow with the peat and put the keg into it and brought it home and contacted the National Museum of Ireland."
Although it is one of the most common ancient discoveries in Ireland's bogs it is unusual to find such a large quantity of the substance.
(Excerpt) Read more at irishcentral.com ...
Joe Clancy displays the ancient bog butter which he found this week In Ballard bog on the outskirts of Tullamore, County Offaly.
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>> He then returned to the bog and “filled a wheelbarrow with the peat ...
It wouldn’t be worthy of an Irish tale if there were no peat involved.
Where’s the whisky?
“My name it is Sean Dempsey, as Dublin as can be,
born hard and late in Pimlico, in a house that ceased to be.
By trade I was a cooper, lost out to redundancy,
like my house that fell to progress, my trades a memory.
Durn survivalists!
Butter before bullets before there were bullets.
Not to be confused with “meadow muffin” or “road pizza”.
Sounds like something Hobbits would have.
Free Republic Runs ONLY On Your Donations.
Make Yours NOW and End the FReepathon!
Need to find some Irish bog bread and bog jam to go with it.
Sorry for the cheesy comment, but it’s the best I can do on only one cup of bog water coffee.
Bog margarine otoh is nowhere to be found.
Hey, that *is* a good idea. Ghee’s expiration date’s way better than butter, hence people pre-fridge will have found that handy, but I can’t think of a credible way to introduce bitter into this reply.
Hey, if Hobbits were anywhere, it would be Ireland.
I wouldn’t eat any of the three, regardless. :’)
Don’t get me started. ;’)
Nice staves.
That was very fine.
From a half bald man.
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