Ireland, rare 1,600-year-old wooden pagan idol discovered in a bog

In the countryside ofIreland, and to be precise in the territory of the small town of Roscommon (about five thousand inhabitants in the center of the country, 150 km from Dublin), a rare wooden pagan idol has been found, dating, according to experts, to 1,600 years ago. The find was made by the Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) company, which is working on an excavation for the N5 trunk road (a homologue of our highway), and occurred in a bog at Gortnacrannagh, six kilometers away from the prehistoric archaeological site of Rathcroghan.

The idol, AMS archaeologists explain, was made during the Iron Age (which for northern Europe has a much later date than the Mediterranean basin) from an oak log and represents a stylized human figure, with a small head, and several horizontal indentations carved along the body. The find is rare because only about a dozen similar objects are known to have been found in Ireland, and especially the newly discovered one, dubbed the “Gortnacrannagh idol,” is the largest found to date. The work pre-dates Ireland’s evangelization (AMS explains that it was made 100 years before St. Patrick arrived on the island) and has been taken to University College Dublin, where it will undergo a three-year intervention, directed by conservationist Susannah Kelly, to ensure that it can be preserved. A life-size replica will be displayed at the Rathcroghan Visitor Center, which will in turn be used to be able to study the extraordinary object (“it will be of great value,” the center explains, “in telling the story of this fascinating ancient landscape”).

“Our ancestors,” explains Eve Campbell, AMS archaeologist, “saw the marshes as mystical places where they could connect with the gods and the afterlife. The discovery of animal bones along with a ritual dagger suggest that animal sacrifices were made at this site, and the idol was probably part of these ceremonies.”

“Road projects like the N5,” explains Deirdre McCarthy, local archaeologist, “offer a great opportunity to investigate our cultural heritage. Gortnacrannagh is an excellent example. If it weren’t for the road, we would never have known about this extraordinary site.”

In the photo, scholar Cathy Moore analyzes the idol.

Ireland, rare 1,600-year-old wooden pagan idol discovered in a bog

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