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‘Bog Butter’ find believed to be 2,500-years-old

Galway butter find dates back to the Iron Age

By
CATHY HAYES,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Friday, May 13, 2011, 8:13 AM
Updated Friday, May 13, 2011, 10:21 AM

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1000 year Old Bog Butter at the Cork Butter Museum
1000 year Old Bog Butter at the Cork Butter Museum


Experts from the National Museum of Ireland believe that the 'Bog Butter' found in the bog at Shancloon, north of Galway, could be 2,000 to 2,500-years-old.

The butter was found when Ray Moylan from Headford was having his annual turf supply cut by contractor Declan McDonagh. Moylan, a bus driver, contacted the Office of Public Workd, Headland Archaeology in Galway and the National Museum of Ireland when he made the discovery.

The butter which was found in timber keg, made from the trunk of a tree, weighed almost 28 pounds. The keg was built using Iron Age implements. It was buried three to four-foot away.

An assistant keeper with the National Museum of Ireland, Padraig Clancy, said that the butter could be up to 2,500 years old. Clancy along with Karena Morton conservator at the National Museum of Country Life, removed the butter from the bog. It will be brought to the National Museum's facility in Lanesboro.
Clancy said "The type of vessel it is in usually helps us to date the period the butter is from, and this one could date back to the Iron Age.”

Archaeologist Ross MacLeod commented on the quantity of butter discovered in Galway. Speaking to the Irish Times he said "It would have been a substantial loss to the family that buried the butter in the bog that they never recovered it. Perhaps the person who buried it died or forgot where it was left…That might have been stored up by a family during the summer and put into the bog for use during the cold winter months. Its loss could have been a tremendous one for some family a long, long time ago.”

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4 Comments

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dlockard | May 14, 2011, 11:24 AM EDT
Four generations of my family including my 1-year old great granddaughter have been to Dublin. I wrote an article "Three Strollers and a Baby" about our travels, commencing with, "There isn't a buggy in the boot." The first of three buggies had not made it to Ireland... I am researching the treasures of the bog for a children's story.

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antoman | May 13, 2011, 10:57 AM EDT
find*

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antoman | May 13, 2011, 09:55 AM EDT
I am going to need a large ship a submarine and a crew.I believe I can find Atlantis.Its simple really.I use migrating birds.It has been noted that large flocks of migrating birds circle for hours above a spot in the Atlantic.As if they were circling above land.Its there we will Atlantis.Migrating eels are also a help in this quest.All aboard.

Report abuse

sirpeter | May 13, 2011, 08:21 AM EDT
I think IC is just "buttering us up" with these articles.

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