reckon that butter in the back of your electric refrigerator is old ? Last week , a manharvesting peatin Ireland ’s Meath County unearthed a massive lump of 2000 - year - old “ bog butter . ” It weighs around 22 pounds and reek like a strong cheeseflower , theBelfast Telegraphwrites . And yes , it ’s still edible after all these years ( although we would n’t recommend savour it ) .
Experts think that prehistoric people buried butter to conserve it , or as an offering to the god . They often placed the topping in a wooden casket , or wrapped it in an creature hide , before point it underground . This picky ball of butter was inhume without a cover , 12 feet underneath the bog ’s airfoil . The nature of its burial suggests that it was n’t meant to be dug up .
Andy Halpin , who works in the National Museum of Ireland ’s Irish Antiquities Division , allege that the butter was significant because of its burial berth . It was found near the town of Drakerath , where , long ago , 11 townlands and the boundary of three ancient baronies meet . “ These bogs in those times were inaccessible , orphic home , " Halpin said . “ It is at the juncture of three separate kingdoms , and politically it was like a no - man’s - land , that is where it all hangs together . "
Bog butter might seem bizarre , but it ’s hardly rare . Over the years , archaeologists havefound hundreds of butter cachesin bogs across Northern Europe , some of them dating all the way back to the Middle Iron Age ( 400 - 350 BCE ) . Last calendar week ’s discovery will be give to the National Museum of Ireland , where it will be atomic number 6 - dated and preserve .
bog are acidulent environmentswith very small oxygen , so artifact , animals , and people buried in their depth can remain well - preserved for grand of years . Over sentence , masses have unearthed many ancient artifacts from Europe ’s peat peat bog : fortunate treasure , human bodies , and even a1200 - year - older ledger of psalms .
[ h / tBelfast Telegraph ]
