Four millennia of dairy surplus and deposition revealed through compound-specific stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating of Irish bog butters 

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dc.contributor.authorSmyth, Jessica
dc.contributor.authorBerstan, Robert
dc.contributor.authorCasanova, Emmanuelle
dc.contributor.authorMcCormick, Finbar
dc.contributor.authorMulhall, Isabella
dc.contributor.authorSikora, Maeve
dc.contributor.authorSynnott, Chris
dc.contributor.authorEvershed, Richard P.
dc.contributor.funderNatural Environment Research Councilen
dc.contributor.funderFP7 Ideas: European Research Councilen
dc.contributor.funderHorizon 2020en
dc.date.accessioned2019-11-19T10:11:34Z
dc.date.available2019-11-19T10:11:34Z
dc.date.issued2019-03-14
dc.description.abstractBog butters are large white or yellow waxy deposits regularly discovered within the peat bogs of Ireland and Scotland. They represent an extraordinary survival of prehistoric and later agricultural products, comprising the largest deposits of fat found anywhere in nature. Often found in wooden containers or wrapped in animal bladders, they are considered to have been buried intentionally by past farming communities. While previous analysis has determined that Irish bog butters derive from animal fat, their precise characterisation could not be achieved due to diagenetic compositional alterations during burial. Via compound-specific stable isotope analysis, we provide the first conclusive evidence of a dairy fat origin for the Irish bog butter tradition, which differs from bog butter traditions observed elsewhere. Our research also reveals a remarkably long-lived tradition of deposition and possible curation spanning at least 3500 years, from the Early Bronze Age (c. 1700 BC) to the 17th century AD. This is conclusively established via an extensive suite of both bulk and compound-specific radiocarbon dates.en
dc.description.sponsorshipGR3/10641; FP7-IDEAS-ERC/324202; ERC-2018-PoC/812917en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid4559en
dc.identifier.citationSmyth, J., Berstan, R., Casanova, E., McCormick, F., Mulhall, I., Sikora, M., Synnott, C. and Evershed, R.P., 2019. Four millennia of dairy surplus and deposition revealed through compound-specific stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating of Irish bog butters. Scientific reports, 9(1), (4559). DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-40975-yen
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/s41598-019-40975-yen
dc.identifier.eissn2045-2322
dc.identifier.endpage10en
dc.identifier.issued1en
dc.identifier.journaltitleScientific Reportsen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/9042
dc.identifier.volume9en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherSpringer Natureen
dc.relation.urihttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-40975-y
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2019en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectRadiocarbon datingen
dc.subjectIrish bog buttersen
dc.subjectCompound-specific stable isotope analysisen
dc.titleFour millennia of dairy surplus and deposition revealed through compound-specific stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating of Irish bog butters en
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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