Bog butter could be older than Christianity

By TOM GILMORE BOG butter found in a timber vessel in a bog at Shancloon near Caherlistrane, could be 2,000 to 2,500 years old, according to a specialist from the National Museum of Ireland. The butter, weighing almost two stone, was found in a timber keg, which may have been hewn out of tree trunk and was shaped into a barrel using primitive early Iron Age implements. The large container of bog butter was found in a plot of bog where Ray Moylan from Liss, Headford was having his annual supply of turf cut by local contractor Declan McDonagh. Ray, a part-time bus driver, contacted the Office of Public Works, Headland Archaeology in Galway and then the National Museum regarding the discovery. The keg of butter was found buried in the peat at a depth of about three or four feet and while the mechanical bucket of the turf cutting machine hit the vessel it only caused damage to part of the barrel and all the butter remained intact when it was removed to higher ground. As he surveyed the find in the bog this week, Padraig Clancy, Assistant Keeper with the National Museum said it could be anything up to 2,500 years old. Along with his colleague, Karena Morton, Conservator at the National Museum of Country Life, Castlebar, they removed the butter and the vessel and it is currently en route to the National Museum's facility in Lanesboro. There it will be analysed, the keg will be put into a preservative solution and the butter will subsequently be freeze dried. '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,' said Padraig. Along with Karena he carefully wrapped the find in cloth and bubble-wrap and it was then put into a plastic container for overnight storage at the Castlebar museum before being taken to Lanesboro. 'The butter will be separated from the vessel and a solution of polyethylene glycol (PEG) will be use to preserve the timber. The butter will be freeze dried before it goes to the National Museum in Dublin,' says Karena. She said that sometimes people might be brave enough to taste bog butter, 'but I am not going to risk it,' she joked. PEG, the solution that is used to preserve the keg, is sometimes used on the wood of ships that have been salvaged from their underwater graves, including the 'Mary Rose' in England. It makes wood stable and prevents warping or shrinking. 'When the freeze dried butter is taken to the national museum it will be stored there under the name of Ray Moylan in whose bog it was found,' says Padraig. 'I've been cutting turf in this plot for a few years but never came across anything like this before,' says Ray. Scottish archaeologist Ross Mac Leod, who is with the Galway office of Headland Archaeology, says he is aware of similar finds in his homeland and around Ireland but the quantity discovered in this North Galway bog is larger than many of the others. '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,' says Ross. He added that the person who made the vessel may have cut it out of the trunk of a tree and then used a tool known as an adze to shape the lid and the bottom of the keg. An adze was an implement with a head similar to a hoe, used to shape wood. The butter was very white in colour but that is often the situation with similar finds according to Ross MacLeod. The keg is very similar to one found containing a larger quantity of bog butter by Brian and Joe Clancy in a bog at Ballard, Co Offaly last month. Many different types of vessels have been used for storing butter in bogs, sometimes they are made of wicker, different types of wood, leather and even on occasions the butter might be just buried in a lump in the bog or enclosed in a cloth, according to Padraig Clancy. He added that sometimes there may have been a ritualistic aspect to storing butter in bogs. Another train of thought among some experts is that sometimes butter was stored to be used later as a waterproofing agent for use on clothing. Bog was viewed as a primitive form of refrigeration by people in the past, as the peat creates a vacuum around the material buried there. The owner of the plot of bog at Shancloon, Ray Moylan, says he is delighted that it was possible to remove the butter with most of the keg intact, and he is waiting with bated breath to find out how far back the butter dates to. One of his friends, 85-year-old Kathleen Bohan from Caherlistrane, was helped by John and Carmel O'Malley from Claran, Headford as she walked along the uneven and wet peat path to the area of  where the butter was found. 'I often heard people talk about finding bog butter in the old days but this is the first time that I have even seen it,' said Kathleen. As the keg of butter, wrapped was lifted into the plastic case to be carried out of the bog, Ray Moylan, who also works as a part-time undertaker, quipped that the find would be going to a drier resting place from now on!