Summary

Bog-butter keg of alder or birch, with a lid, found in Glen Gell, Morven, Argyll

Accession Number

X.SHC 1

Other references

Original description

Keg of [bog-] butter, cut out of one piece, 24" x 16 1/2", with lid, found under 4 1/2 ft. of peat in moss at Glen Gell, Morven, Argyll. Anonymous note: P.S.A.S. XVI, 1881 - 2, 220 - 1. Trevor Cowie notes, 12 April 2012: see RCAHMS NM75SE 1. Details mainly after Mowat 1996: In May 1879 a keg of bog butter was discovered in a slanting position at a depth of 4'6"' (1.4m) during peat-digging at the N end of Gleann Geal, Glen Gill or Glen Gell, and possibly in the extensive area of peat-banks around NM 765 537. The body of the keg has been worked from a solid trunk or large branch of alder (formerly identified as birch) to form a cylindrical body with slightly barrel-shaped sides. It measures 2' (0.6m) in height and 1'4?" (0.4m) in diameter. Two perforated lugs project to a height of 4" (102mm) above opposite sides of the upper rim and the published illustration also depicts two perforated lugs on opposite sides of the body. Both the lid and bottom of the keg fitted into grooves; the former was 'partly hollowed into a basin shape' and was perforated to allow the lugs to project. The lid (which cannot be identified in the collections) has probably been slightly domed and is illustrated as bearing adze-marks. It had a rectangular slit on one side (to retain one of the lugs), but it is unclear whether there was a slit or a recess on the opposite side. The keg has recently been the subject of extensive conservation, including the partial epoxy reconstruction of the base, which has evidently been formed from a piece of wood larger than the body which has been so carved as to form a collar which was revealed during conservation to have been retained by small wooden pegs or dowels set into holes in the main body of the object. Internally, the workmanship is generally crude, the bottom of the vessel being uneven and having numerous marks which are probably of natural origin rather than toolmarks. Gouge marks in the exterior have presumably been made at the time of discovery. The capacity of the vessel was apparently about 75 litres. Bog butter was found completely filling the interior, the upper surface of the mass being domed. Radiocarbon assay of a sample of this material has yielded a determination of 148 +/- 35 ad (UB-3185: 1802 +/- 35 bp), which determination may be calibrated to between about 183 and 226 cal AD. References: Earwood, C 'Two Early Historic bog butter containers', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 121 (1991) 232-6, 239; Earwood, C Domestic wooden artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking times, Exeter, 1993, 109; Macadam, W I 'On the results of a chemical investigation into the composition of the "bog butters" and of "adipocere" and the "mineral resins;" with notice of a cask of bog butter found in Glen Gell, Morvern, Argyllshire, and now in the Museum', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 16 (), 206, 220-1; Mowat, R J C The logboats of Scotland, with notes on related artefact types, Oxford 1996, 87, 112, 145, no. A24 tabs. 1 and 11; Ritchie, J 'A keg of "bog-butter" from Skye and its contents', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 75 (), 7, 16 [MoS Description] Working wood. (H2) Big Trees. (This keg used as a container for butter was carved from a single alder trunk). Keg, Morven. 120 - 329 AD.

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

None

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

Not recorded

Method (e.g. excavation)

Not recorded

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1879

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Unknown

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Not recorded

Image