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2,684-year-old human brain found in U.K. pit

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
August 21st, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

A human skull, estimated to be 2,684 years old has been discovered in the United Kingdom, containing a marvelously preserved human brain. The skull was recently discovered in a waterlogged U.K. pit. It's the oldest intact brain ever to be found in both Europe and Asia.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "The early Iron Age skull belonged to a man, probably in his thirties," lead author Sonia O'Connor told Discovery News. "Cause of death is rarely possible to determine in archaeological remains, but in this case, damage to the neck vertebrae is consistent with a hanging."

Scientists think that submersion in liquid, anoxic environments helps to preserve human brain tissue.

Researchers theorize that the man was first hung in an execution. "The head was then carefully severed from the neck using a small blade, such as a knife," O'Connor adds. "This was used to cut through the throat and between the vertebrae and has left a cluster of fine cut marks on the bone."

Discovered at Heslington, Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, O'Connor suspects that the site served a ceremonial function that persisted from the Bronze Age through the early Roman period.

Many pits found at the site were marked with single stakes. The remains of the man were also without a body. Scientists also found the headless body of a red deer that had been deposited into a channel.

Laser imaging, chemical analysis and other examinations revealed that the brain naturally preserved over the millennia. The scientists described the brain tissue as being "odorless . with a resilient, tofu-like texture."

"In the air, even in the chill of a hospital mortuary, brain tissue very quickly decays to liquid before muscle and other soft tissues show much evidence of decay," O'Connor said.

O'Connor and her colleagues suggest that a remarkable series of events led to the organ's preservation. Shortly after the man was killed, his head must have been placed, or fallen into, the waterlogged pit that was free of oxygen.

It must be noted that while other soft human body parts may not preserve well under such conditions, the wet environment appears to be perfect for keeping brains fresh "due to the very different chemistry of brain tissue," O'Connor said.

The investigation is the first in-depth study of other prehistoric human brains and soft human tissues discovered by scientists. They include the body of the 5,000-year-old Tyrolean "Ice Man," the Inca mummies of the high Andes, the tanned bog bodies from across Northern and Western Europe, good condition bodies sealed in lead coffins.

Two aspects of the new study are being heralded as "notable."

"First," he said, "such preservation is testimony to the amazing preservation in wet sites. Truly amazing things come out of the muck," Glen Doran, chair of the anthropology department at Florida State University says.

"The second, he added, "is the absolutely stellar analysis brought to bear on this special find."

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