Tres piezas de la Edad del Bronce con más de 4.000 años de antigüedad se pueden ver desde hoy en el Museo Nacional de Dublín, después de que fuesen recuperadas de un contenedor de basura.

Se trata de una lúnula de oro y dos discos del mismo metal precioso pertenecientes a una cultura asentada en la isla entre el 2300 y 1800 a.C., uno de los descubrimientos más significativos de la arqueología irlandesa de los últimos años, según los expertos.

Fuente: EFE, Dublín | El Reportero.com, 24 de junio de 2010

Lo curioso es que éstos no fueron hallados por arqueólogos, sino por agentes de la Policía nacional que investigaban el año pasado el robo de una farmacia en la localidad de Strokestown, en el condado de Roscommon (noroeste).

Los objetos habían permanecido en la caja fuerte de la familia Sheehan desde 1947, dos años después de que un vecino de la zona los desenterrase de un turbera cercana.

Las investigaciones policiales lograron averiguar que los ladrones descartaron las tres piezas de su botín y las desecharon en un contenedor de basura de Dublín.

Durante un acto celebrado hoy el Museo Nacional, la ministra irlandesa de Turismo, Cultura y Deporte, Mary Hanafin, afirmó que "la historia antigua que rodea a las reliquias hace interesante la visita del público y, por supuesto, la historia moderna en torno a su recuperación añade un giro detectivesco", dijo la ministra.

El director del museo, Pat Wallace, reconoció que ésta última parte del relato constituye "una cadena de eventos extraordinarios" , al tiempo que destacó el valor del lote, ya que nunca antes se habían encontrado una lúnula y un disco juntos en Irlanda.

"Sabíamos que ambos pertenecen a la misma época, pero este descubrimiento confirma la asociación entre los objetos y podemos concluir que se hicieron al mismo tiempo y utilizando la misma pieza de oro" , explicó Wallace.

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Early Bronze Age gold

A new hoard of Early Bronze Age gold from Coggalbeg, Co. Roscommon, to be exhibited at the National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

The National Museum of Ireland is delighted to announce that the hoard of Early Bronze Age goldwork which formed part of the contents of a pharmacy safe stolen from Sheehan’s Chemists, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, in March 2009, will be exhibited at the National Museum - Archaeology, Kildare Street from 23rd June 2010.

The hoard consists of a gold lunula, a crescent-shaped collar, and two small gold discs dating to the Early Bronze Age c. 2300-1800 BC. The three objects had been placed in the pharmacy safe in 1947 and had only been seen by members of the Sheehan family on a couple of occasions since then. The opportunistic robbery of the safe led to this amazing discovery. In late March this year two Dublin men pleaded guilty to the burglary of the pharmacy and were given three year suspended sentences. Following the robbery of the safe the Sheehan family told the investigating Gardaí that in addition to family papers and belongings the safe contained three pieces of gold jewellery. Curators from the National Museum’s Irish Antiquities Division were able to assist Gardaí in identifying the type of objects most likely to meet the description provided by the Sheehan family. The description suggested a hoard of gold ornaments of the Early Bronze Age period. Because of the thin and flat nature of the objects and their extremely light weight (78g in total, about 2 ½ ozs) it became apparent that the hoard might have been missed completely when the contents of the safe were examined by the robbers. This eventually proved to be the case. The investigating detectives established that all the papers from the safe had been dumped in a skip in Dublin. As the refuse was due to be collected within a few hours of this information coming to hand, An Garda Síochána moved quickly to secure the skip and arranged for the refuse to be examined. The detectives who undertook this very unappealing task were rewarded by the recovery of the hoard, complete and intact.

Detective work of an archaeological nature undertaken by the National Museum of Ireland’s curators in the Irish Antiquities Division led to the identification of the original finder of the hoard and the place where the find was made. The finder was Mr Hubert Lannon, Four Mile House, Co. Roscommon, who had found the hoard when cutting turf in his bog at Coggalbeg, Co. Roscommon, in March 1945. Unfortunately, it was also discovered that Mr Lannon had died in his 93rd year just three weeks before the robbery in March 2009. However, his family were able to confirm that he had made a find in his bog which he had given to Mr Sheehan, the Strokestown chemist.

For further press information please contact:

Maureen Gaule

Marketing Department, National Museum of Ireland

Tel: 01 – 6486429 Mobile 087 2075133

E-Mail: mgaule@museum.ie

Website: www.museum.ie