The Bronze Age dwellers around Killarney's lakes were evidently a thrifty and resourceful lot. When one of their painstakingly hewn oak canoes became obsolete or was replaced by a bigger, better model, the old one was re cycled for use as a container to heat water for cooking and washing.
This is borne out by a chance find in the area last week which has generated considerable excitement among the county's archaeologists and historians. A digger driver carrying out drainage works on the farm of Mr Edward Shanahan in the townland of Tomies, near the upper lake, uncovered an unusual object in a fen or marsh alongside the river Laune.
"The driver realised that he had not just found another piece of bog oak, but a dug-out boat. It could be as old as 2,000 BC," said the Kerry County archaeologist, Mr Michael Connolly. Preliminary examination by Mr Connolly and his colleagues revealed that the interior of the 18 ft oak canoe was burned, and they soon realised that the spot was the location of a fulacht fiadh, or ancient cooking site. Pieces of flint and burnt sticks were also noted in the vicinity.
"The boat appears to have been re-used as a trough for the fulacht fiadh - the section that would be filled with water which was brought to a boil by means of strongly heated stones," Mr Connolly said. The council is now awaiting a decision by Duchas, the Heritage Service, on what should be done with the canoe and site, which has been recovered with a layer of peat pending further examination.
The boat split into three pieces while it was being uncovered but it is certainly not beyond restoration. "We would hope that it will be preserved in some way and put on display, perhaps in Muckross," he added.
The canoe is similar in style to the much larger 50 ft canoe from Lurgan, Co Galway which is a major display feature in the National Museum and which has been dated to 2,400 BC.