An oak barrel, full of butter, estimated to be around 3,000 years old has been found in Gilltown bog, between Timahoe and Staplestown. (Ireland)
The barrel was discovered by two Bord na Mona workers. (The principal Bord na Mona businesses are in the Energy, Resource Recovery, Horticulture, Home Heating and Waste-water Treatment and stuff like that)
Anyway, the workers said,"We could smell it, and it was attracting crows."
What they found was an oak barrel, full of butter.
It was largely intact, except for a gash towards the bottom of it caused by the harrow.
It was head down, and had a lid; something that has excited the archaeologists.
The barrel is also split along the middle, which is common with utensils filled with butter found in the bogs. A conservator at the National Museum, Carol Smith, told that the butter expands over time, causing the split.
The barrel is about three feet long and almost a foot wide, and weighs almost 77lbs.
After 3000 years the butter has changed to white and is now adipocere, (also known as grave wax) which is essentially animal fat, the same thing that is found on well-preserved bodies of people or animals found in the bog.
The Conservation Department of the National Museum keepers, Pádraig Clancy, conservator Carol Smith, and the Leinster Leader have had a look at the contents of the barrel
"It's rare to find a barrel as intact as that," Mr. Clancy explained, "especially with the lid intact, and attached. It's a really fine example."
"It's rare to find a barrel as intact as that," Mr. Clancy explained, "especially with the lid intact, and attached. It's a really fine example."
He estimates that the barrel is approximately 3,000 years old, from the Iron Age.
At the moment it is being dried out by staff at the Conservation Department. Once dry it will be soaked in a wax-like solution which preserves it.
Such a large amount of butter, he estimated would have probably been the harvest of a community and Ms. Smith and Mr. Clancy explained that bog butter has been tasted before, "but not by us! (yeah, right)
"It's a national treasure, you can't be going hacking bits of it off for your toast!" Carol Smith joked.
Then Carol, always the joker, continued the hilarity adding: "We've found no body parts in Gilltown bog," "but here's hoping!" (That's Carol, third from the left)
