Wednesday, July 26, 2006

BOOKS: Me Like Books Good

Book Buried in Irish Bog Is Called a Major Find:
Ireland's National Museum said on Wednesday that a 1,200-year-old Book of Psalms found last week by a construction worker in a bog was so archaeologically significant that it could be called an "Irish equivalent to the Dead Sea Scrolls."
The museum said in a news release that "in discovery terms this Irish equivalent to the Dead Sea Scrolls is being hailed by the museum's experts as the greatest find ever from a European bog."
I wish I were smart enough to appreciate this in properly reverential academic terms, rather than in Onion magazine terms -- the latter precipitated largely by the word "bog."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You said bog. Heh.

But seriously, what a magnificent discovery. I'd love to see it (the book, not the bog) up close.

Anonymous said...

The real story is the guys that found it: the backhoe operater actually SAW the thing before he plowed over it; and the owner of the property knew enough about old books that he made sure to BURY IT IN DAMP SOIL overnight instead of leaving it to dry such that it crujbled to dust by the time experts got there. Did anyboyd know that you're supposed to bruy old books in damp soil??

Unknown said...

Not to be a party pooper, but I don't know that you're supposed to bury old books in damp soil as a general rule. I'm pretty sure a couple of librarians I know would put the kibosh on that plan. I think the idea was to leave the book in the environment that had preserved it thus far (in this case, damp soil).

But it really is pretty amazing that they figured that out. My instinct would have been to dry it out, dry being the condition in which I prefer to maintain my books.

My brother is a grad student of ancient languages and texts, and he is thoroughly geeking out over this discovery.

Kailana said...

This is pretty cool. Too bad the news here couldn't get off war stories and talk about ancient books... not that wars and death are not important... it is just all that seems to be talked about on the news of late...