The National Museum of Ireland is to begin examining the remains of Ireland's latest 'bog body' discovered at a Bord na Móna site in Co Meath last week. The headless body was found among a stack of peat by workers near Kinnegad.
     An archaeological team from the National Museum was dispatched to inspect the remains which were excavated and transported to Dublin. It is unclear at this stage the age, sex or cause of death, though those details are likely to emerge this week following examination by experts. The discovery comes just over a year after that of the 'Cashel Man' remains from a bog in Co Laois, which were thought to be those of a sacrificial victim.
     There are just four such bodies on display at the National Museum on Kildare Street, Dublin. "How ancient its year we won't be able to say yet but it is a bog body of some antiquity," said Maeve Sikora, an assistant keeper in the museum's Irish antiquities division. "Its upper body appears to be intact and further analysis should be able to tell us how much else is there. It seems like it has been exposed to the air for quite a while and that would be damaging but nonetheless its condition is very good."

Edited from The Irish Times (10 December 2012)