22kg slab of ancient 'bog butter' discovered on Donegal farm
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A slab of butter believed to be hundreds of years old has been uncovered by '"pure luck" on a Donegal farm.
The ancient butter was unearthed while work was ongoing at Micheál Boyle's farm at Loughfad, Portnoo.
Mr Boyle estimates that the slab weighs as much as 22kg. Historians say that it could possibly date back to the Bronze Age.
“It was just by pure luck that we came across it,” Mr Boyle said.
“I could see this white thing in the ground. The minute I went down to it, I could get a smell off it and it was only about a foot into the ground.
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“It's a perfect rectangle and was perfectly held together. It's completely greasy, but completely preserved.
“I got this salty, cheesy smell immediately, there was no mistaking what it was.
“This is only clay ground here, but it maybe was bogland back in time.”
Butter was sometimes buried in a bog to preserve it, while some people also buried butter as an offering to the gods or spirits and was often encased in wooden containers.
Mr Boyle told how there was “one little piece of wood” at the bottom end of this butter, suggesting it was originally in a box which has since decomposed.
It will now be taken to the conservation department at the National Museum for research and analysis.
There are hopes that it can be returned to the area for public display in the Dolmen Centre.
Local archaeologist Paula Harvey visited the site of the discovery, and said: “It would be nice to keep it as local as possible.”