Artefacts and information gathered from more than 40 excavations of a Co Offaly bog have been detailed in a recently published book, The Story of Lemanaghan - The Archaeology of an Irish Bog.
Some 1,000 copies of the book have been printed initially, and will be distributed to Bord Na M≤na staff and visitors to the company's offices and centres.
"One of the aims of this booklet is to illustrate the wealth and diversity of archaeological sites and artefacts preserved in our bogs," said Mr Seβn Grogan, chief executive, Bord na M≤na.
"Excavations on bogs and peatlands tend to turn up finds that you don't get from other locations," says the book's author, Ms Ellen O'Carroll, who is also of ADS Ltd, archaeology consultants for the Bord na M≤na bogs.
She says: "Because the area is wet, it keeps the air away from delicate materials like textiles and leather. It also helps preserve wooden implements and even corpses."
The information justifies Bord na M≤na's annual investment of £250,000 in these excavations, she added.
In the two years since the project began more than 40 excavations have been carried out by the Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
The excavations have provided "a unique insight into the lives of those living on or near the bog over the last 5,500 years".
The objects found include an oak-plank trackway used from 5000 BC to the 1700s by the locals to move across the bog and a Neolithic axe head retrieved by a Bord na M≤na worker.
Also found was "what appears to be the country's earliest bishop's crozier which dates from the sixth or seventh century AD," said Bord na M≤na.