Scientists find 2,000-year-old brain in Britain

www.physorg.com ^ | 12/12/2008 | RAPHAEL G. SATTER

[Red Badger]

The existence of a brain where no other soft tissues have survived is extremely rare, according to Sonia O'Connor, an archaeological researcher at the University of Bradford in northern England who helped authenticate the discovery.

"This brain is particularly exciting because it is very well preserved, even though it is the oldest recorded find of this type in the U.K., and one of the earliest worldwide," she said.

The old brain is unlikely to yield new neurological insights because human brains aren't thought to have changed much over the past 2,000 years, according to Chris Gosden, a professor of archaeology at Oxford University unconnected with the find.

He confirmed it was the oldest brain found in Britain. He noted that far older preserved brains, thought to be approximately 8,000 years old, were found in 1986 when dozens of intact human skulls were uncovered buried in a peat bog in Windover Farms in Florida.

"It's a real freak of preservation to have a brain and nothing else," Gosden said. "The fact that there's any brain there at all is quite amazing."

Hall said the brain found at York University was being kept in its skull in an environmentally controlled storage facility for further study.

[Red Badger]

This image issued by the York Archaeological Trust on Friday Dec. 12, 2008 shows brain material as dark folded matter at the top of the head in this computer-generated view into the skull. British archaeologists working at a university campus have unearthed an ancient skull carrying a startling surprise _ an unusually well-preserved brain still inside. Scientists said Friday that the more than 2,000-year-old mass of gray matter was the oldest ever discovered in Britain. One expert unconnected with the find called it "a real freak of preservation." The skull -- which was severed from its corpse sometime before the Roman invasion of Britain _ was found in a muddy pit during a dig at the University of York in northern England in the fall of this year, according to Richard Hall, a director of York Archaeological Trust. (AP Photo/York Archaeological Trust)

[444Flyer]

I hope it’s not Abynormal’s.

[Red Badger]

Joe Biden's ancestor, perhaps............

[llevrok]

Scientists find 2,000-year-old brain in Britain

Stephan Hawking's ?

[theDentist]

Here it is!

... belonged to an Abby something.

[blam]

Check out these 8,000 year old brains found in Florida.

Bye, Bye Beringia

"*Skeletal remains of 169 people, split almost evenly between males and females, ranging from 6 to 70 years old. About 75 of the skeletons were relatively intact.

*90 intact human brains that include the oldest DNA samples in the World.
*Artifacts of wood, bone, and seed that were made into jewelry and tools, providing insight into the ancient peoples' lives.
*Tests showed the oldest skeletons were buried 8,100 years ago. The youngest was placed in the ground 6,900 years ago.
"To put this into context," Doran said, "these people had already been dead for 3,000 or 4,000 years before the first stones were laid for the Egyptian pyramids!"

[snip]

[rfp1234]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2096897/posts

[Red Badger]

Yeah, we gotta lotta old brains here in Florida...............Especially this time of year!....;^)

[TonyStark]

[rfp1234]

"The fact that there's any brain there at all is quite amazing."

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Looks like a truffle!

[weegee]

Was it Donovan's?

[Red Badger]

or a tribble.............

[Red Badger]

No, he smoked his in 1969 with Atlantis..............

[Izzy Dunne]

Yeah, we gotta lotta old brains here in Florida...............Especially this time of year!....;^)

Well, you should be handing them out to the folks on the freeway, for cryin' out loud.

[Buck W.]

I actually have that movie on DVD!

[xJones]

"The fact that there's any brain there at all is quite amazing."

Strange, they say the same thing about Prince Charles.

[CougarGA7]

The skull -- which was severed from its corpse sometime before the Roman invasion of Britain _ was found in a muddy pit during a dig at the University of York

He must have really pissed someone off to have his head cut off and thrown into a bog.

[April Lexington]

He must have really pissed someone off to have his head cut off and thrown into a bog. Proto-Chicago politician, perhaps?

[rightwingintelligentsia]

So that’s where Helen Thomas must have lost hers!