1,200-Year-Old Manuscript Found In A Bog

Discovery Is Of "Staggering Importance"

The discovery of an ancient manuscript in an Irish bog last week has been compared to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The 1,000 year-old Psalter, or book of Psalms, was unearthed in bog lands in the midlands by a bulldozer milling peat.

Its discovery was described by the Museum of Ireland as of 'staggering importance'. Estimates put the ancient manuscript at between 1,000 and 1,200 years-old.

The director of the National Museum of Ireland, Dr Pat Wallace, said the find was of "staggering importance" and that its survival until now was "a miracle".

"It testifies to the incredible richness of the Early Christian civilisation of this island and to the greatness of ancient Irish civilisation," he said.

"It is a miracle it was discovered by a bulldozer milling for peat.

"How many bogs have turned this sort of thing up but it has not been spotted and ended up as a peat briquette.

"In my wildest hopes, I could only have dreamed of a discovery as fragile and rare as this".

The artefact comprises extensive fragments of what appear to be an Irish early Christian psalter, written on vellum (calf-skin)

Experts said the pages appear to be those of a slim, large format book with a wraparound vellum or leather cover from which the book block has slipped.

Specialists do not know how the manuscript ended up in the bog, but speculated that it may have been lost in transit, or dumped after a raid.

The farmer on whose land it was found notified museum staff immediately, and it was brought to the museum's conservation laboratory at Collins Barracks in Dublin by a team of specialists on Friday.

Had the farmer not acted so quickly the book could have been destroyed after just afew hours exposure to the elements.

Raghnall Ó Floinn, head of collections at the museum, estimates there are about 45 letters per line and a maximum of 40 lines per page.

While part of Psalm 83 is legible, the extent to which other psalms or additional texts are preserved will be determined only by painstaking work by a team of experts.

It is possible that the manuscript will be put on public display in the museum's early Christian gallery within a couple of years.

The text has already been transferred to the National Museum's conservation labrotary, where it has been put in refrigeration untl experts can decide how best to restore it.

Dr Bernard Meehan, head of manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin, said the find was "sensational".

"I only heard about this yesterday, and since then I've been trying to come to terms with it," he said.

"I cannot think of a parallel anywhere.

"What we have here is a really spectacular, completely unexpected find."

Dr Meehan said he believes the manuscript may date back to 800AD, but he is not sure how soon after this it was lost.

Arts Minister John O'Donoghue congratulated the finder and the museum on a "most fortunate" discovery.