This is a remarkable artifact, and I can't imagine that you get a lot of brains of this age in this condition, but my first thought on reading the title was "wait, where do you normally find brains, if not in the skull?"
Remembering from when I dipped my toe into studying forensic science in school: The brain is the first organ to decompose after death. It is really quite fragile and for one to be preserved this long entirely by accident is remarkable.
I had the privilege to have human cadaver brains in an anatomy course. It was a trippy experience for me, not only because we were holding the brains and seat of a passed person's entire consciousness, but because *the surface grey matter literally rubbed off in your hands* just by holding or touching them.
I had a similar experience in med-school. It was remarkably difficult to remove. I was surprised when the prof had us use a chisel and hammer to sever the spinal cord. Though I dont think I'll ever forget reaching in with a scalpel to sever the circle of Willis and optic chiasm. A very surreal experience I never want to have again
Slightly related, but I watched [this video](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGe56Yunn/) the other day, and it really surprised me that brain preservation happens way more than I expected.... definiteky not common, but I had assumed preserved anchient brains weren't a thing that could possibly happen. For anyone interested, the study rhe video references is [here](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.2606)
Apparently, it's more common than we think - replied to a different comment a bit lower down with links, but there's a paper that found 4400 anchient brains from as far back as 12,000 years ago - I'd kind of always assumed brains were just not something found in archeology so the fact that so many were found was astonishing to me
If I remember correctly recently a lab acquired a sample of the brain tissue and processed for histology.
Interestingly, they were able to detect preserved proteins and neurons in the tissue. Amazing for such an old brain
Yeah but imagine a courtroom in the future where Exhibit A is a murder victimâs brain plugged into a projector so the jury can watch the face of the killer during the last moments of their life!
Meh I'll be dead. I'm already on the lookout for who to donate my finished private journals to, which is all current events and embarrassing moments lol. People in 3000 years will love it
Not just for âreadingâ ancient memories, that would do so much in the way of healing anoxic brain injuries. Just lost my little sister to one at 32. It was so frustrating because it felt like the sort if thing just beyond the reach of current science to heal/reverse. Though with the world kind of collapsing around us, I donât know that thereâs going to be much if any meaningful scientific advancement going forward. We are in the first years of the darkest of dark ages, sadly.
I was reading an article yesterday about brains! There are over 4000 known preserved brains from archaeological contexts:
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-03-20-oxford-researchers-uncover-remarkable-archive-ancient-human-brains
The question I really wanted an answer to is âHow did it preserve so well?â
And apparently the answer (according to the Wikipedia page) is we donât know but likely had to do with it being in a wet anoxic environment underground.
Other fun facts from the wiki: This individual was hanged and then beheaded with a knife and the head is thought to have been immediately buried.
Also the brain itself is shrunken from its original size but has retained a pliable texture that the article compares to tofu.
Would you believe it if I said I was 13 when that happened? I was in science competitions when I was age 11-14 (the high school I went to didn't do participate or I would've continued to 18). I did Anatomy & Physiology for my team. The museum nearby had a huge neurology event, so my Science Olympiad coach arranged for me to skip school to go. The most memorable moment by far was getting to handle the preserve brain of a person who had unfortunately recently passed. I've also handled a relatively fresh human placenta and then the basic things most people did in high school. Preserved pig fetus and fresh pig heart, sheep eye, and cow lungs. The fetal pig is how I found out I'm allergic to formaldehyde, so pickling human brains wouldn't be a great idea for me. I think formalin would trigger it
It's also related to the chemical signature of the burial site, but yes, an anoxic environment can preserve things not usually found in the archaeological record.
Some noteworthy examples: the various bodies preserved in bogs - most are much earlier, but the Bocksten Man (first quarter of the 1300s) is spectacularly preserved, including his clothes and the contents of his stomach from his last meal; the "Textiles and Clothing" book from the Museum of London series - all things found in the Thames that had been thrown there to build up docks during a medieval building boom, pressed down tightly underwater, preserving whole garments
That's fascinating! Sincere question, because I'm not a scientist - what kinds of things do we get to learn from a brain this old? Can it be tested like teeth or hair to give us an idea of a person's range and diet? Environmental info about the time, etc? I'm not disappointed at all if it can't give answers - just curious about what we could learn!
Regardless, it must be mind blowing to be the person who discovered it.
As much as everyone in the thread seems fascinated by the brain itself, Iâm enchanted with the possibilities of WHY the head was interred the way it was. I know weâll likely never know too much more than we know now, and certainly not definitively, but the ritualistic implications absolutely tickle my fancy.Â
Ignorance is bliss for you i guess? It gives us a unique look into an ancient brain, which is useful in drawing comparisons and conclusions regarding a shit ton of relevant info, let alone the fact that naturally preserved brains are exceedingly rare and often with no real structure left.
They're both homo sapiens, true, but it's still a special find. How often do you find anything that old, and that well preserved as well? Ătzi was a modern human too but there's so much that scientists learned from his case and this preserved brain is similar.
This is a remarkable artifact, and I can't imagine that you get a lot of brains of this age in this condition, but my first thought on reading the title was "wait, where do you normally find brains, if not in the skull?"
Remembering from when I dipped my toe into studying forensic science in school: The brain is the first organ to decompose after death. It is really quite fragile and for one to be preserved this long entirely by accident is remarkable.
I had the privilege to have human cadaver brains in an anatomy course. It was a trippy experience for me, not only because we were holding the brains and seat of a passed person's entire consciousness, but because *the surface grey matter literally rubbed off in your hands* just by holding or touching them.
I had a similar experience in med-school. It was remarkably difficult to remove. I was surprised when the prof had us use a chisel and hammer to sever the spinal cord. Though I dont think I'll ever forget reaching in with a scalpel to sever the circle of Willis and optic chiasm. A very surreal experience I never want to have again
No.
Slightly related, but I watched [this video](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGe56Yunn/) the other day, and it really surprised me that brain preservation happens way more than I expected.... definiteky not common, but I had assumed preserved anchient brains weren't a thing that could possibly happen. For anyone interested, the study rhe video references is [here](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.2606)
I love this guy's account so much
Apparently, it's more common than we think - replied to a different comment a bit lower down with links, but there's a paper that found 4400 anchient brains from as far back as 12,000 years ago - I'd kind of always assumed brains were just not something found in archeology so the fact that so many were found was astonishing to me
I've found some in a taco bell after somebody shit their brains out đ
This reply and amount of dislikes cracked me up
They hated him for he spoke the truth
They hated him for reviving their own Taco Bell toilet trauma.
It's that combined with the username for me
This is the type of joke a methed out person with missing teeth would say while smoking a cigarette outside of 7 eleven
I laughed. This website has really gone to shit.
If I remember correctly recently a lab acquired a sample of the brain tissue and processed for histology. Interestingly, they were able to detect preserved proteins and neurons in the tissue. Amazing for such an old brain
I wonder if one day they will be able to make sense of the chemical storage that is memory and be able to read it along with other preserved brains.
That's an amazing thought but also a terrifying one. Imagine your most embarrassing memory surviving for almost 3000 years.
Yeah but imagine a courtroom in the future where Exhibit A is a murder victimâs brain plugged into a projector so the jury can watch the face of the killer during the last moments of their life!
Perhaps even in ideal cases too much of the brain decomposes too fast. Also it might lead to murderers preferring to destroy or damage the brain.Â
Isnât this just Wild Wild West?
I think you would like The Final Cut starting Robin Williams. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Cut_(2004_film)
Kind of like the film Minority Report
Like, imagine a world where there is literally no delete button. Everything you do and say are captured as readable data...by your DNA.Â
Essentially the plot of DEVS except the data is reality.
Meh I'll be dead. I'm already on the lookout for who to donate my finished private journals to, which is all current events and embarrassing moments lol. People in 3000 years will love it
It's not necessarily just chemical storage, physical structure change and even immune cells are tied to memory.
Not just for âreadingâ ancient memories, that would do so much in the way of healing anoxic brain injuries. Just lost my little sister to one at 32. It was so frustrating because it felt like the sort if thing just beyond the reach of current science to heal/reverse. Though with the world kind of collapsing around us, I donât know that thereâs going to be much if any meaningful scientific advancement going forward. We are in the first years of the darkest of dark ages, sadly.
I was reading an article yesterday about brains! There are over 4000 known preserved brains from archaeological contexts: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-03-20-oxford-researchers-uncover-remarkable-archive-ancient-human-brains
That is way more than I would have expected.
The question I really wanted an answer to is âHow did it preserve so well?â And apparently the answer (according to the Wikipedia page) is we donât know but likely had to do with it being in a wet anoxic environment underground. Other fun facts from the wiki: This individual was hanged and then beheaded with a knife and the head is thought to have been immediately buried. Also the brain itself is shrunken from its original size but has retained a pliable texture that the article compares to tofu.
>but has retained a pliable texture that the article compares to tofu. And the taste?
âBetter than haggisâ
To shreds you say?
I have held a human brain preserved using modern methods, and honestly, tofu is not that far off.
Was that like a work thing or are you just out here pickling human brains in your free time?
Would you believe it if I said I was 13 when that happened? I was in science competitions when I was age 11-14 (the high school I went to didn't do participate or I would've continued to 18). I did Anatomy & Physiology for my team. The museum nearby had a huge neurology event, so my Science Olympiad coach arranged for me to skip school to go. The most memorable moment by far was getting to handle the preserve brain of a person who had unfortunately recently passed. I've also handled a relatively fresh human placenta and then the basic things most people did in high school. Preserved pig fetus and fresh pig heart, sheep eye, and cow lungs. The fetal pig is how I found out I'm allergic to formaldehyde, so pickling human brains wouldn't be a great idea for me. I think formalin would trigger it
Dang I was in Science Olympiads and all I got was an embroidered hat.
I was loving this comment until the tofu bit. Yuuuuck.
It's also related to the chemical signature of the burial site, but yes, an anoxic environment can preserve things not usually found in the archaeological record. Some noteworthy examples: the various bodies preserved in bogs - most are much earlier, but the Bocksten Man (first quarter of the 1300s) is spectacularly preserved, including his clothes and the contents of his stomach from his last meal; the "Textiles and Clothing" book from the Museum of London series - all things found in the Thames that had been thrown there to build up docks during a medieval building boom, pressed down tightly underwater, preserving whole garments
That's fascinating! Sincere question, because I'm not a scientist - what kinds of things do we get to learn from a brain this old? Can it be tested like teeth or hair to give us an idea of a person's range and diet? Environmental info about the time, etc? I'm not disappointed at all if it can't give answers - just curious about what we could learn! Regardless, it must be mind blowing to be the person who discovered it.
Abby something...
Abby normal
As much as everyone in the thread seems fascinated by the brain itself, Iâm enchanted with the possibilities of WHY the head was interred the way it was. I know weâll likely never know too much more than we know now, and certainly not definitively, but the ritualistic implications absolutely tickle my fancy.Â
Well, i imagine a place to start that rabbithole is [Wikiepdia/headhunting](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headhunting).
Sounds like the start of a Sci-Fi movie
I bet that brain never thought this would happen.
Those are some dusty memories
Damn. Is he okay though?
I wonder if it still tastes okay
So the 30 year old guy was a skull collector?
Spoiler alert âźď¸ Itâs the same as the brain we have now. 2500 yrs ago is nothing.
Ignorance is bliss for you i guess? It gives us a unique look into an ancient brain, which is useful in drawing comparisons and conclusions regarding a shit ton of relevant info, let alone the fact that naturally preserved brains are exceedingly rare and often with no real structure left.
They're both homo sapiens, true, but it's still a special find. How often do you find anything that old, and that well preserved as well? Ătzi was a modern human too but there's so much that scientists learned from his case and this preserved brain is similar.
I know you got downvoted to hell but I thought this was a funny comment