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The brain was discovered inside a skull found at Heslington near York A human brain, believed to be the oldest ever discovered, may have been preserved for over 2,000 years by mud, archaeologists have said. The organ was found inside a decapitated skull at an Iron Age dig site near York in 2008. Tests on the remains suggested they were from the 6th Century BC, making them about 2,600 years old. York Archaeological Trust said the skull had been buried in wet, clay-rich ground providing an oxygen-free burial. They said the burial location could have helped conserve the brain,...

A brain in near-perfect condition is found in a skull of a person who was decapitated over 2,600 years ago. THE GIST • One of the world's best preserved prehistoric human brains was recently found in a waterlogged U.K. pit. • The brain belonged to an Iron Age man who was hanged and then decapitated, with his head falling in the pit shortly thereafter. • Scientists believe that submersion in liquid, anoxic environments helps to preserve human brain tissue. • One of the pieces of a 2,600-year-old brain after removal from the skull. 
York Archaeological Trust A human skull dated...

An Iron Age man whose skull and brain was unearthed during excavations at the University of York was the victim of a gruesome ritual killing, according to new research. Scientists say that fractures and marks on the bones suggest the man, who was aged between 26 and 45, died most probably from hanging, after which he was carefully decapitated and his head was then buried on its own. Archaeologists discovered the remains in 2008 in one of a series of Iron Age pits on the site of the University’s £750 million campus expansion at Heslington East. Brain material was still...

Archaeologists have found the remains of what could be Britain's oldest surviving human brain. The team, excavating a York University site, discovered a skull containing a yellow substance which scans showed to be shrunken, but brain-shaped. Brains consist of fatty tissue which microbes in the soil would absorb, so neurologists believe the find could be some kind of fossilised brain. The skull was found in an area first farmed more than 2,000 years ago. More tests will now be done to establish what it is actually made of. The team from York Archaeological Trust had been commissioned by the university...