Ireland Worker Finds Ancient Psalms In Bog

[Favonius Cornelius]

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

Associated Press Writer

 

 

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) -- Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker who spotted something while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.

 

The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.

 

"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration and facing years of painstaking analysis before being put on public display.

 

"There's two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out. First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."

 

 

WVEC

[Pantagathus]

What on Earth would western European archaeologists do without bogs! ^_^

[Ludovicus]

//merged repeat topics

 

"Irish bog yields 1,000-year-old treasure

FRAGMENTS of an ancient manuscript, possibly more than 1,000 years old, have been uncovered in a bog in Ireland.

 

The discovery of the psalter in the south Midlands area has already been hailed by experts as the greatest find from a European bog."

 

Here's the link:

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/internatio...m?id=1084002006

Edited July 26, 2006 by Moonlapse

[docoflove1974]

What on Earth would western European archaeologists do without bogs! ^_^

 

It's bog! It's bog! It's better than bad...it's good!

[Favonius Cornelius]

What on Earth would western European archaeologists do without bogs! ^_^

 

Heh ya really. I expect they'll find king Arthur at some point.

[Primus Pilus]

Heh ya really. I expect they'll find king Arthur at some point.

 

No no, they'll find him with the lady of lake and excalibur in the belly of Nessie!

[Nagelfar]

"it may have been lost in transit or dumped after a raid"

 

Being a novice, I cant help wondering if this is likely. It seems more probable that it was planted?

 

How does the regulation on such finds work in Ireland?

[Gaius Octavius]

It seems that either the back hoe operator or owner of the property had the good sense to re-bury it in the bog until the archeologists arrived. The cover is made of a hard red leather with two seals on it. The pages are made of a sheep velum.

Edited July 27, 2006 by Gaius Octavius