Bog treasures give clues to Irish history
THE bog bodies of last week’s feature have always fascinated me, not least for the endless stories and unsolved mysteries, in particular the girl with the red hair: the hair as red as the day she slipped into the peaty blackness hundreds of year earlier never to return.
That’s my kind of tale and an Irish tale at that.
Bodies aside, the bogs have let go remarkable gold artefacts, simple boats and pristine leather and countless other clues to Irish life of old, including the wildlife to be seen at the time.
Imagine the scene: you’re out hunting deer when all your Christmases come at once, because, in the distance you can see a giant Irish Elk.
Seven feet at the shoulder, an antler span of 12 to 13 feet, your eyes light up at the sight of the monster’s pelt: the whole village economy sorted for a month or more.
Irish elk, Megaloceros giganteus, also called Irish deer or giant deer, are an extinct species of deer, characterized by immense body size and wide antlers.
They are commonly found as fossils in Pleistocene deposits in Europe and Asia: the Pleistocene Epoch began 2.6 million years ago and ended about 11,700 years ago.
The later species, or rather their skeletons, are those that have turned up in the bogs.
Despite its distribution throughout Eurasia, the species was most abundant in Ireland.
Although several other species of Megaloceros are known, the Irish elk was the largest.
It was about the size of the modern moose, Alces alces and had the largest antlers of any form of deer known.
The antlers differed from those of most modern deer in that the main part was a massive single sheet from which arose a series of pointed projections, or tines.
Many scientists contend that the Irish elk succumbed to starvation and went extinct during the most recent ice- age, however, fossils of M giganteus uncovered in Siberia have been dated to approximately 7,000– 8,000 years ago: a period characterized by warm temperatures.
You can see an enormous set of Irish Elk antlers in the National Museum in Dublin and I encourage you to drag yourself away from the boozy delights of Temple Bar and spend a few hours among the giants.
You can also see some of the incredible gold items recovered from the bogs, including gold arm bands, crowns and chalices.
Then you must head immediately for Derrynane in County Kerry and pay homage to this bog oak table and it’s three carved Irish wolfhounds in Daniel O’Connell’s house: it’s a worthwhile pilgrimage just to stroke their heads.
Irish bog wood also known as ‘ morta’ is simply wood that was buried through time in peat bog- lands.
Lack of oxygen in the environment managed to preserve the wood from the natural process of decay.
Not only is the wood preserved but it is coloured by the tannins naturally present in the acidic environment of the bog.
Bog woods can be found throughout the world and in Ireland the three main types of bogwood that can be found are Yew, Oak and Pine.
The Irish bog woodscan be up to five or six thousand years old.
The centuries- long process of timber change results in colour alteration from goldenbrown to completely black.
No two pieces of wood will ever be exactly the same colour.