eudaimonist:

2,500-Year-Old Brain Examined:

First dug up in 2008 by archaeologists in York, England, the well-preserved brain prompted experts to investigate how the tissue had stayed in such good shape. Above, a computer-generated scan of the 2,500-year-old human skull shows brain matter in dark gray. The lighter gray colors in the skull represent soil. Protein analysis confirmed the ancient brain matter—dated to between 673 and 482 B.C.—belonged to a human, said study co-author Matthew Collins, an archaeologist at the University of York.

“The majority of the mass of the brain is still there, but it’s quite reduced in volume—it’s lost a lot of water,” he said. A new study released in March suggests that the skull had been quickly buried in a pit full of thick, wet clay—among several factors that may have helped prevent the brain from decomposing. The cool, low-oxygen conditions of the soil may have aided in the brain’s preservation, according to the study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Analyses of the tissue and remains of the surrounding skull suggest the Iron Age brain belonged to a male between 26 and 45 who was hanged and then ritually decapitated. The rest of the man’s body hasn’t been located.

(via biognosis)