Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.
The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.
Important: Crucially, he said, the bog owner covered up the book with damp soil. Had it been left exposed overnight, he said, "it could have dried out and just vanished, blown away."
Apparently, the owner of the bog has dealt with archaeologists before so he knew that he had to keep the book in close to its original conditions.
A few bloggers have been noting the fact that the pages it was opened to talk about conflict in Israel. That's certainly unusual.
Um, that was sarcasm, by the way.
More here.