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‘Bog butter’ from 3,000 BC found in ancient underground store

Peat cutter said the ancient food still smells of dairy

By
CATHY HAYES,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Friday, April 29, 2011, 7:20 AM
Updated Friday, April 29, 2011, 10:43 AM

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Joe Clancy displays the ancient bog butter which he found this week In Ballard bog on the outskirts of Tullamore, County Offaly.
Joe Clancy displays the ancient bog butter which he found this week In Ballard bog on the outskirts of Tullamore, County Offaly.


Read more: 4,000-year-old necklace found in dumpster

Read more: 3,000-year-old butter discovered in Ireland

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.

Read more: 4,000-year-old necklace found in dumpster

Read more: 3,000-year-old butter discovered in Ireland

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14 Comments

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John5319 | May 07, 2011, 11:01 AM EDT
The facts of History are what gives Ireland it's inner beauty, it's heritage, it's place of importance amist the seen wonders of the modern world. For the knowledge of where you come from .... IS AS important ... as it is to know just where you are going. Learn from the past to protect yourself form the Evil that awaits in the future. For that Evil comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

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Celticlass44 | May 04, 2011, 07:55 PM EDT
Very interesting story! Thanks!

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Ballyphehane1 | May 04, 2011, 11:52 AM EDT
Searlit - I don't know where Mayolad heard lashings of butter - it was never really something we said in Cork, but I remember it being a common term in Enid Blyton books like the Mallory Towers series - set in a boarding school where they had midnight feasts with lashings of ginger beer & other goodies....

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SeamusRua | May 03, 2011, 05:34 PM EDT
Butter and buttermilk are the reason we are still going. The rest of ye can suck on olive oil.

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ardgehane | May 01, 2011, 12:35 PM EDT
I have some Kerry gold older than that in my fridge.

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Searlit | Apr 30, 2011, 03:07 PM EDT
@ MAYOLAD, Lashings of butter? Precious. Where does that term come from?

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MAYOLAD | Apr 30, 2011, 11:10 AM EDT
I think it was some of the stuff we left beind after cutting turf, and having our tae and currant cake with lashings of bog butter, yum yum. a day in the bog.

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bootsjoyce4 | Apr 29, 2011, 06:26 PM EDT
Bog Butter Blarney!

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bullocks | Apr 29, 2011, 06:10 PM EDT
kaydog1- only one problem - Sir Walter Rayleigh didn't introduce potatoes into Britain until 1587.not 5000 years ago poor old grandpa Seamus was on the poitin again.

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bullocks | Apr 29, 2011, 05:59 PM EDT
@ellenfromcork- click the link at the bottom of the article to see last years story.

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kaydog1 | Apr 29, 2011, 04:06 PM EDT
Ya see what life was like for our ancestors before the famine? Just imagine all those potatoes they had AND one hundred pounds of sweet, creamy butter to slather on them! Then the famine, and THEN what could you do with all that butter? Waste it on scones, or corn on the cob? Drizzle it on your lobster dinner? Stuff it into your Chicken Kiev? Bah! Better to chuck the whole thing into the bog, stop eating all together, and head for Americay! And that, children, is the story of Great, Great, Great, Grandpa Seamus' experiences in the Great Irish Potato Famine!

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ellenfromcork | Apr 29, 2011, 03:19 PM EDT
I think this is another recycled story. Wasn't this from last year or before?

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Searlit | Apr 29, 2011, 10:43 AM EDT
The bogs of Ireland are truly a natural wonder!

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seattlelocalfoo | Apr 29, 2011, 10:25 AM EDT
What a cool discovery! Thanks for sharing.

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