Scientists unearth 2,000 year old brain in Britian

Scientists unearth 2,000 year old brain in Britian
news.yahoo.com...

LONDON – British archaeologists have unearthed an ancient skull carrying a startling surprise — an unusually well-preserved brain. Scientists said Friday that the mass of gray matter was more than 2,000 years old — the oldest ever discovered in Britain. One expert unconnected with the find called it "a real freak of preservation."

The skull was severed from its owner sometime before the Roman invasion of Britain and found in a muddy pit during a dig at the University of York in northern England this fall, according to Richard Hall, a director of York Archaeological Trust.

Finds officer Rachel Cubbitt realized the skull might contain a brain when she felt something move inside the cranium as she was cleaning it, Hall said. She looked through the skull's base and spotted an unusual yellow substance inside. Scans at York Hospital confirmed the presence of brain tissue.

Amazing....



[edit on 12-12-2008 by asala]

that's cool, too bad we cant really learn much from a 2000 year old brain, but supposing there was a way, i wonder what it could tell us about the past

[edit on 12-12-2008 by MCoG1980]

Can they extract dna from the brain do you think?

i just read this article before checking back in with ats

VERY interesting i never realized there had previously been brains found before, especially 8000 year old brains in florida, thats almost more interesting then the new brain find as when i think 8000 years ago i think of many civilizations but not really any in the florida area come to mind immediately when thinking of that subject

but i do wonder what knowledge we can gain from this

id imagine dna should still be possible to extract, maybe not to the fullest extent possible but to some extent id imagine

i look forward to hearing more on this from some more people with archeological knowledge or even genetics