1,200 year old Celtic Medieval Manuscript Found in Irish Peat Bog by Man Bulldozing His Property

A 1,200 year old Celtic medieval manuscript was found on Thursday, July 20, 2006 in a peat bog in Ireland, and scholars are excited to see what it may reveal.  This leather-bound medieval manuscript with Irish Celtic art designs has been dated from 800-1,000 AD and contains about twenty illustrated pages on leather vellum.  Currently stored in refrigeration, it will take years of painstaking study before this medieval manuscript can be put on public display.   Quick thinking by the landowner who found the medieval manuscript certainly saved the manuscript from further deterioration.  When bulldozing his property, he saw the medieval manuscript, recognized what it was, and promptly re-covered the medieval manuscript with damp soil preventing it from drying out to preserve it for proper excavation.  This new Celtic medieval manuscript discovery has been likened to the finding the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Brenda Harness, Art Historian

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