A farmer in Co Donegal has unearthed what may be one of the largest ancient slabs of bog butter ever discovered on the island of Ireland. A local arch

Donegal farmer uncovers 22kg slab of ancient bog butter

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2024-09-20 17:00:04

A farmer in Co Donegal has unearthed what may be one of the largest ancient slabs of bog butter ever discovered on the island of Ireland.

A local archaeologist has said that the find, which is estimated to weigh between 22kg and 25kg, could be the “one of the biggest” of its kind ever recorded in Ireland.

Bog butter is an ancient form of preserved dairy or animal fat and can be found in the cool, oxygen-poor depths of Ireland’s peat bogs. Finds are common in both Scotland and Ireland.

The practice of storing butter in bogs dates as far back as the Iron Age and is recorded as taking place as recently as the 16th and 19th century.

Archaeologist Paula Harvey, who visited the site of the discovery, said that local man Alan Moore was digging a drain when Micheal “spotted this big slab of something that didn’t look normal, didn’t look natural”.

“So Alan stopped his digger and the two of them pulled it out and immediately Michael recognised that it was an artefact,” she explained.