3,000-year-old Butter Found

Posted by Miss Cellania in Odd News on August 20, 2009 at 11:01 pm


An oak barrel of butter has been found in a bog near Gilltown, Ireland. Two workers, John Fitzharris and Martin Lane, noticed a white streak in the peat and uncovered the barrel, estimated to be 3,000 years old. Pádraig Clancy and Carol Smith of the National Museum of Ireland took charge 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.”

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.

“At 35ks, it’s a pretty big one,” Ms. Smith explained. Other examples of bog butter they showed tended to be less intact and much smaller.

Link -via Unique Daily


Previous post
this post? Please Email this               
Next post

Tags: , , ,


FUN PRODUCTS FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP:
BuckyBalls (w/ Mystery Bonus!)


COMMENT

12 comments to "3,000-year-old Butter Found"

  1. SenorMysterioso
    August 20th, 2009 at 11:03 pm

    Id try some

  2. Wes
    August 20th, 2009 at 11:16 pm

    Mmmm ... bog butter.

  3. Kalel
    August 20th, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    I propose a toast to butter!

  4. abdulhamid
    August 21st, 2009 at 2:15 am

    If one does not read the caption, it would be quite puzzling to see these people looking so pleased to be posing in front of a giant turd.

  5. Scannen
    August 21st, 2009 at 2:55 am

    hmmm - yummi!

    is this one also lightly salted as my favorite butter from denmark?

  6. Lasse
    August 21st, 2009 at 3:20 am

    And its organic too!

  7. Lasse
    August 21st, 2009 at 3:21 am

    :-D i just read the last sentence in the article:

    "We've found no body parts in Gilltown bog," Ms. Smith said, before adding, "but here's hoping!"

    Archeologists!

  8. Tim Giachetti
    August 21st, 2009 at 4:53 am

    Nice find Miss C.

    Now pass the 3000 year old pancakes.

  9. Foreigner1
    August 21st, 2009 at 6:50 am

    ...Now will they also try to return this lost property to the rightful owners being the still living relatives of the one who put it there in the first place like that watch was found in an old wreck and that recently was returned to relatives...?

  10. heather
    August 21st, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    It looks like a wet log :/ yummy

  11. Video Game Dork
    August 22nd, 2009 at 1:37 pm

    Wouldn't it be rotten into a no-longer-butter substence? (dairy products tend to change over time - milk to cheese and all that).

    oh, the full article answers that "The butter has changed to white and is now adipocere, which is essentially animal fat, the same sort of substance that is found on well-preserved bodies of people or animals found in the bog."

  12. Damien Ryan
    August 25th, 2009 at 6:39 am

    Kerrygold? You 'ave this is Ireland too?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2raqWagzCA


PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT

Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. Comments aren't censored, but those that are abusive or off-topic may be edited or deleted.


Stay updated on the comments with Comment RSS