Treasures from beneath the turf.
BOG BODIES The biggest bog celebs of recent times are undoubtedly Oldcroghan Man and Clonycavan Man, unearthed in counties Offaly and Meath, respectively, in 2003. Oldcroghan Man was in his mid-20s and had been horrifically tortured before being dismembered, while Clonycavan Man was wearing a kind of Iron Age hair-gel made from vegetable plant oil mixed with a resin that probably came from south-western France or Spain. They are on display in the National Museum of Ireland.
BOG BOAT The Bog of Allen Nature Centre at Rathangan, Co Kildare, boasts a bog canoe of exceptional beauty. Hewn from wood, it plied the wetlands of central Ireland some 7,000 years ago.
BOG ROAD An Iron Age bog road is the subject of the Corlea Trackway Visitor Centre at Kenagh, Co Longford. An 18-metre stretch of preserved road, the largest of its kind to have been discovered in Europe, is on permanent display.
BOG BUTTER Wicker baskets containing butter, which turn up regularly in bogs, were probably buried to keep butter cool and prevent mould growth.
Alternatively, the butter may have been of a special type, buried to allow added flavours to develop.
BOG WOOD Though it has no archaeological value, bog oak makes beautiful 21st-century artefacts, used by sculptors such as Michael Casey, from Co Longford, and Ronnie Graham, from Co Galway.