Experts Study Human Brain Found Miraculously Intact After 2,600 Years
Axel PetzoldScientists have finally begun to understand what exactly has prevented this 2,600-year-old brain from decomposing.
Archeologists find bones all the time. But an intact brain? After 2,6000 years? It would take until January 2020 for this historical discovery to start to make sense.
Dubbed the “Heslington brain” after the British village it was discovered in, the organ was found during an archaeological excavation in 2008. The man whose skull it came from had naturally decomposed millennia ago, with experts positing that he had been hanged or decapitated.
Since the skull was easily dated to be at least 2,600 years old, the scientists were stunned to find that a small piece of his brain was intact. They began to study the brain — with staggering results.
Axel PetzoldThe Heslington brain post-excavation.
This historical discovery began with befuddlement, but researchers soon realized that two types of proteins structure had helped the brain survive. Clustered unusually tightly, they protected the organ from destructive enzymes.
As decomposition of the human body starts within 36 to 72 hours after death, and skeletonization sets in within five to 10 years, experts were aware that “the preservation of human brain proteins at ambient temperature should not be possible for millennia in free nature.” That is, in most cases.
Axel PetzoldWhile much of the body had deteriorated, the Heslington brain was well-preserved in the skull.
So why this skull? Why this brain? Researches aren’t entirely sure — mystery remains around this piece of history news. Possibly, some kind of preservative compound, unknown to researchers, could have leaked into the skull. Or, maybe, the skull’s unfortunate owner was decapitated, and his head was buried under thick, cold earth, which helped preserve it.
In any case, this historical discovery was nevertheless astonishing — it was the oldest brain specimen ever found in the United Kingdom.
