Pirate movies are once again popular, after some hard times a few years ago. But the most recent buried treasure has nothing to do with pirates. In Ireland, a worker digging with an excavator in a peat bog to package potting soil uncovered an ancient book of psalms, 20 pages long, and very well preserved. The AP reports:

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.

"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration and facing years of painstaking analysis before being put on public display.

"There's two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out. First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."

Possibly even more amazing:

The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

How appropriate! The seeker of a medium to nurtutre plants to maturity discovers Holy Scrripture designed to nurture us, As for the page it was open to, draw your own conclusions.

Hat tip: Max G.

Thomas Lifson   7 26 06

Update: Unnatural History has some thoughts on the significance of the page the book was open to.