Time and again ancient ‘bog bodies’, and their remarkably well-preserved features dating back thousands of years, have left scientists speechless.

These eerie cadavers are naturally mummified within a peat bog that preserves intricate details, such forehead creases and even laughter lines.

Now, the incredible properties of peat are being used by the beauty industry to create skincare products that claim to promote youth and cure skin damage.

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Bill Kenny from Croghan Hill was inspired to launch the the peat-based Ógra skincare range after seeing the well-preserved Iron Age body of ‘Old Croghan Man’ (pictured) found in a bog in 2003

One such company is Tullamore-based Ógra who is using peat to create a range of luxury skincare products, according to a report by Audrey McGlinchy in Narratively.

The Irish group has made use of local peat, which is the material formed when plant remains partially decompose.

This particular peat in County Offaly has one of the highest concentration of antioxidants in the world.

Bogs, which are particularly common in Ireland, contain this peat which as the bog grows, gets pushed deeper beneath the surface.

Bogs, which are particularly common in Ireland, contain peat which as the bog grows, gets pushed deeper beneath the surface

Away from oxygen, the bacteria that break down matter can’t survive, which means the deeper you dig in a bog, the greater peat’s youthful power.

Bill Kenny, founder of Ógra, lives just few miles away from a 14-acre bog near Croghan Hill in which the Iron Age ‘Old Croghan Man’ was discovered in 2003.

‘I remember the police superintendent phoning me up to tell me they’d found a body in the peat,’ the former construction worker told MailOnline.

‘I thought maybe it was a murder victim, but when I spoke to the superintendent that evening he told me the man was there for thousands of years.

‘He was so well-preserved, they could tell you what he ate the day he died, and by the pollen in his nostrils, what time of year he died.’

Inspired by these protective powers, Mr Kenny started Ógra – the Irish word for ‘youth’.

The company now sells peat-based skincare products such as the Peat Face and Body Mask for £40 ($66).

Last year, Ógra Skincare sent a batch of peat to Glasgow University to be dated and they found that Mr Kenny’s bog is more than 9,000 years old.

The peat, they discovered, contained 98 to 99 per cent organic materials, including high levels of antioxidants and antiseptics.

The main antioxidant is trolox, the water-soluble equivalent of vitamin E. The product also contains magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper, iron and zinc.

Recalling his earliest memory of peat, Mr Kenny is still amazed by it ‘magical properties’.

‘When I was seven, my hand was badly burnt by a pot of water,’ he told MailOnline.

‘I got up and all the skin on my hand fell, it was red raw, just like a piece of liver.

‘My mother put me on a bicycle and took me to a peat bog that we own just a mile away. She mixed up the peat and she put my hand straight down into it.

‘The only thing I can remember about that, is that once I entered my hand into the peat there was no more pain… I thought, there must be something fabulous in peat.’