3,000-Year-Old 'Human Sacrifice' Found In Laois

The remains, believed to be that of a woman, could be up to 3,000 years old.

The body was found partially buried in a leather bag in a bog outside of Portlaoise by the driver of a turf-milling machine.

The head and torso which were inside the bag are badly decomposed, but the legs which were exposed were preserved by chemicals in the peat.

Staff at the National Museum of Ireland are examining the remains, and say it is a hugely significant find.

"What we've got is very exciting," said Ned Kelly, keeper at the National Museum of Ireland's antiquities division.

"This is reasonably well preserved and completely in situ, so we can get information we couldn't get before."

He said the body had been found on an ancient tribal boundary, which means it dates to the Iron Age, during which burials on boundaries was an observed practice.

"This was probably a ritual deposition of a human sacrifice," he said.

Archaeologists paid tribute to Bord Na Mona workers for their quick thinking in preserving the priceless find.

The driver spotted the remains just seconds before the machine he was driving was due to pass over them, which would have destroyed them forever.

"We have a protocol in place for such finds and we are very pleased that it worked well in this instance," said a company spokesman.

The body is the latest in a series of remarkable discoveries made in the same bog over the last few years including bog butter, axe heads and leather shoes.

More than 100 bodies and parts of prehistoric bodies have been recovered in Irish bogs, and two well preserved bog bodies are on permanent display at the National Museum of Ireland on Kildare Street, Dublin.

They were found in Counties Offaly and Meath.

Highly acidic water, low temperatures and a lack of oxygen help to preserve bog bodies in a remarkable condition over thousands of years, turning their skin leathery.

The latest find is being removed for radio carbon dating and closer examination by archaeologists at the museum.