Faddan More Psalter used as a liner to stiffen the cover somewhat. Low oxygen levels in the bog provide unusual preservation conditions, and bogs were often used by Irish monks as hiding places for valuables in the face of Viking raids. In addition to low oxygen levels, sphagnum moss, of which the peat bog is composed, produces an antibiotic substance called sphagnan that binds with proteins on the surface of microorganisms, immobilising them. Its highly reactive carbonyl groups can alter chemicals and nutrients that would otherwise decompose organic matter. And above all the sphagnum moss causes organic material to undergo chemical changes itself
What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat? What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat? What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat? Diet in Biblical Times is a 2008 book by Nathan MacDonald that discusses the foods eaten by Israelites during the time that the Bible was written. MacDonald, a theologian who serves as a lecturer at St Andrews University, used biblical texts as well as archaeological and anthropological evidence in his attempts to determine the diet of the Israelites. MacDonald decided to write the book while writing another book on the symbolism of food in the Hebrew Bible that contained a chapter on the diet of the Israelites. Nathan