Turf cutters working in an Irish peat bog have unearthed a 2,000-year-old lump of butter, the Cavan County Museum announced.

Smelling like a strong cheese, the 22-pound chunk of waxy material was found 12 feet below the surface near the town of Drakerath, some 50 miles north of Dublin.

According to experts, the bog butter is still in excellent condition.

"Bogs are excellent preservative properties – low temperature, low oxygen and highly acidic environment," the museum said in a statement.

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It is likely the butter was put in the peat bog as a gift to the gods rather than buried with the aim of preserving it.

Andy Halpin at the National Museum of Ireland, where the butter has been sent to be carbon dated and analyzed, said the creamy dairy product may never have been intended to be dug up.

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