“This is part of the culture of Ireland”

Even though a group of 4 gold torcs were discovered near Stirling in 2009, they’re not that common.  According to the BBC report, Dr Greer Ramsey from Armagh County Museum told Belfast coroner, John Leckey, that “10 torcs have been discovered in Ireland and 38 in Britain”. ANYhoo… the coroner has ruled that a [IIRC] 47 37 inch long flange-twisted gold torc, found in a bog in County Fermanagh, is an item of treasure.  And, as we know, “strange things happen in the bog“. From the BBC report It …

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“Strange things happen in the bog.” – Redux

[Image from RTÉ report] Prehistoric human remains found partially buried in a leather bag in a bog near Portlaoise, County Laois, by Bord na Móna workers yesterday are believed to be the over 2,000 year-old body of a sacrificial victim, possibly a young woman.  Here’s a 2007 National Geographic article on Iron Age Europe’s bog bodies.  And from today’s Irish Times report Mr [Eamonn] Kelly [keeper at the National Museum’s Irish antiquities division] said the body would initially have been buried at a considerable depth. …

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