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Jim cleaned it up and recorded it but had to leave, so the task of lifting the skull fell to his colleague and friend Rupert
Lotherington. The find was seen as unusual but its true importance was not discovered until after it had been transported, within a block of soil, to the Finds Laboratory of the York Archaeological Trust. As Finds officer Rachel Cubitt was cleaning it, she noticed that something was loose inside the skull. She peered through its base and saw that it contained a "yellow substance". She said later that it "jogged my memory of a university lecture on the rare survival of ancient brain tissue ... we gave the skull special conservation treatment as a result and sought expert medical opinion." The skull and its contents were put into cold storage and were examined using a variety of medical and autopsy techniques.
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340:. Brains found in terrestrial environments have tended to be better preserved, as the surviving material tends to have a higher proportion of hydrophobic (water-repellent) matter than in a fresh brain. There appear to be a number of routes by which brains have been preserved, though a common factor appears to be the existence of a wet, anoxic environment. The presence of such an environment is thought to have been responsible for a similar but less complete preservation of brain matter discovered in the 1990s during the construction of a new magistrates' court in
383:, Axel Petzold et al performed molecular studies on a sample of the brain, and identified over 800 proteins. Some of these proteins were in good enough condition to elicit an immune response. The team also found that the proteins had folded themselves into tightly packed aggregates which are more stable than those found in live brains. This may partly explain how the Heslington brain has been able to stave off decomposition, in addition to the wet, anoxic environment in which the skull was found that could have prevented aerobic microorganisms from surviving.
316:, where the skull was opened and the contents were removed and forensically examined. The interior of the skull was found to contain several large fragments of brain mixed with sediment. The brain had shrunk to about 20% of its original size, but many anatomical features were still readily identifiable. It was remarkably well-preserved and had few signs of decay other than the presence of a few bacterial spores. One of the fragments clearly showed the neural folds of a cerebral lobe.
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376:. In this particular case, the head was severed from the alimentary tract and drained of blood, so the intestinal bacteria did not have an opportunity to contaminate it. The precise mechanism by which the Heslington brain was preserved is unclear, however; in a bid to shed light on this question, researchers buried a number of pigs' heads in and around the campus to see what happened to them.
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and their replacement by fatty acids and other substances produced as degradation products. Much of the original substance of the brain has been replaced by a high molecular weight, long-chain, hydrocarbon material that is as yet unidentified. According to the archaeologists who have examined it, the
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Discovery of such a well-preserved brain is all the more remarkable, considering the fragility of all human brains following death. Even when placed in a chilled environment in a mortuary, brains quickly dissolve into liquid. The high fat content of the brain means that it is usually the first major
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soil in which the head was buried, even though only the brain, and not the rest of the tissue, survived burial. Only scanty traces of other tissue remain on the rest of the skull. Second, the brain had undergone unusual chemical changes as a result of being severed and the conditions under which it
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had been deposited in a drainage channel and a red deer antler was found in an Iron Age ditch. In one waterlogged pit, a human skull – with the jawbone and the first two vertebrae still attached – was discovered by archaeologist Jim
Williams in August 2008, lying face-down at the bottom of the pit.
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O’Connor, S.; Ali, E.; Al-Sabah, S.; Anwar, D.; Bergström, E.; Brown, K. A.; Buckberry, J.; Buckley, S.; Collins, M.; Denton, J.; Dorling, K. M.; Dowle, A.; Duffey, P.; Edwards, H. G. M.; Faria, E. C.; Gardner, P.; Gledhill, A.; Heaton, K.; Heron, C.; Janaway, R.; Keely, B. J.; King, D.; Masinton,
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A number of possibly ritualistic objects were found to have been deposited in several pits, including the skull, which had belonged to a man probably in his 30s. He had been hanged before being decapitated with a knife and his skull appears to have been buried immediately. The rest of the body was
157:-like texture". It is not clear why the Heslington brain survived, although the presence of a wet, anoxic environment underground seems to have been an essential factor, and research is still ongoing to shed light on how the local soil conditions may have contributed to its preservation.
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which found that it was remarkably intact, though it had shrunk to only about 20% of its original size. It showed few signs of decay, though most of its original material had been replaced by an as yet unidentified organic compound, due to chemical changes during burial.
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Around a dozen pits were found on the site and possibly ritualistic objects were found in a number of them. Some pits had been pierced with a single stake, while a number of pits included "burned" cobbles of a local type of stone. The headless body of a
302:" in Iron Age societies, it appears that the head was immediately deposited in the pit and buried in fine-grained wet sediment. The reason for the killing is unclear. The archaeological context suggests that the man may have been killed for a ritual or
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The skull was found to be that of a man aged between 26–45 years old at the time of death, likely in his mid-30s. Radiocarbon dating found that the man had died some time between the 7th century BCE and 5th century BCE (673–482 BCE). He belonged to the
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356:– a fatty compound formed through the process of decay – was detected in the Heslington brain, probably because the head was severed from the body before the brain had started to decay. There had also been a major decrease in the amount of
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in an area of just over 8 hectares (20 acres). The archaeologists found that the landscape had been inhabited and farmed for thousands of years. The remains of prehistoric fields, buildings and trackways were discovered, dating from the
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The site where the brain was discovered is about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south-east of York city centre on the eastern edge of
Heslington village. It is situated partly on the ridge of an ancient glacial
702:. Correia Faria E., Dorling K. M., O’Connor S. and Gardner P. In: SPEC2010 "Shedding Light on Disease: Optical Diagnosis for the new Millenium"; 26 Jun 2010-1 Jul 2010; University of Manchester. 2010.
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During the Iron Age, the area appears to have been the site of a permanent settlement. The excavators found a number of circular features, which they interpreted as the remains of
298:. Shortly after death his head and upper vertebrae had been severed from his body, almost surgically, using a thin-bladed knife. Although there is evidence from other sites of "
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The brain was found while the skull was being cleaned. It had survived despite the rest of the tissue on the skull having disappeared long ago. After being extracted at
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Survey and excavation work, commissioned by the university, was carried out on the site from 2003. It culminated in a full-scale excavation carried out in 2007–08 by
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Thirdly, the human body tends to decay from the inside out, consumed by a post-mortem swarm of bacteria from the gut which spread around the body via blood from the
242:. The inhabitants seem to have relocated during the Roman period to a site further up the ridge, leaving the area of the Iron Age settlement to revert to fields.
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275:, which had not previously been seen in Britain, in either living or dead individuals. J1d has been identified previously in only a few people from
126:, and is believed to be the best-preserved ancient brain in the world. The skull was discovered during an archaeological dig commissioned by the
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134:. The area was found to have been the site of well-developed permanent habitation between 2,000–3,000 years before the present day.
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missing. Although it is not known why he was killed, it is possible that it may have been a human sacrifice or ritual murder.
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were recovered along with their skeletonised bodies in 2000, and brains were found in the wreck of the
English warship
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499:; Petzold, A.; Pickering, M. D.; Rumsby, M.; Schutkowski, H.; Shackleton, K. A.; Thomas, J. (2011).
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According to the archaeologists and scientists who have examined it, the brain has a "resilient,
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The preservation of the brain has been attributed to several factors. First, the waterlogged,
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Analysis of the Bronze Age
Heslington Brain by FTIR Imaging and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis
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501:"Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from Heslington, Yorkshire, UK"
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Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from
Heslington, Yorkshire, UK
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283:; it may have been more widely present in Britain in the past, and lost through
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649:"New clues to help explain how a 2600 year old brain survived to modern times"
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of the
University of York in 2009, the site was used as agricultural land.
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405:"2,600-Year-Old Brain Found in England, in Remarkably Fresh Condition"
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595:"Was death of Iron Age man at Heslington East a ritual killing?"
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brain is "odourless", with a "smooth surface" and a "resilient,
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on the site of its new campus on the outskirts of the city of
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in 2008. It is the oldest preserved brain ever found in
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organ to deteriorate. The brains of the crew of the
542:"'Oldest human brain' unearthed at Heslington East"
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352:was buried. In contrast to other brains found, no
572:"2,500-Year-Old Preserved Human Brain Discovered"
736:Archaeological discoveries in the United Kingdom
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379:In a paper published on 8 January 2020 in the
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622:"Ancient "Pickled" Brain Mystery Explained?"
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263:The excavation at Heslington East, May 2008.
624:. National Geographic News. Archived from
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726:Individual human heads, skulls and brains
54:(Mass "A") 70 millimetres (2.8 in) ×
106:found inside a skull buried in a pit in
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674:Preserving Britain's Oldest Brain
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453:. York Archaeological Trust. 2009
593:Lewis, Simon (1 November 2010).
403:Brice, Makini (17 August 2012).
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174:. Until the construction of the
35:Mass "A" of the Heslington Brain
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716:2008 archaeological discoveries
683:. by York Archaeological Trust
170:and partly in the basin of the
570:Parry, Wynne (25 March 2011).
448:"37th Annual Report 2008–2009"
56:60 millimetres (2.4 in) ×
1:
647:Yirka, Bob (8 January 2020).
223:through to the middle of the
620:Owen, James (6 April 2011).
270:Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup
58:30 millimetres (1.2 in)
290:He had died from traumatic
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525:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.030
216:York Archaeological Trust
147:York Archaeological Trust
120:York Archaeological Trust
76:York Archaeological Trust
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679:22 October 2021 at the
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176:Heslington East campus
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206:class=notpageimage|
102:is a 2,600-year-old
517:2011JArSc..38.1641O
312:was carried out at
209:Heslington, England
689:. O'Connor et al.
548:. 13 December 2008
322:American Civil War
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128:University of York
465:check Row 39 here
415:on 20 August 2012
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292:spondylolisthesis
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310:CT scanning
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281:Middle East
240:roundhouses
104:human brain
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710:Categories
651:. Phys Org
387:References
324:submarine
306:purposes.
229:Mesolithic
221:Bronze Age
198:Heslington
108:Heslington
87:Heslington
71:Discovered
66:673–482 BC
696:(7): 1641
655:9 January
632:20 August
605:20 August
599:The Press
578:20 August
552:20 August
457:21 August
419:20 August
354:adipocere
333:Mary Rose
235:periods.
233:Neolithic
161:Discovery
112:Yorkshire
91:Yorkshire
677:Archived
358:proteins
338:formalin
279:and the
255:Analysis
248:red deer
225:Iron Age
41:Material
513:Bibcode
296:hanging
277:Tuscany
168:moraine
124:Eurasia
116:England
63:Created
601:. York
362:lipids
349:anoxic
546:Nouse
451:(PDF)
118:, by
114:, in
83:Place
657:2020
634:2012
607:2012
580:2012
554:2012
495:A.;
459:2012
421:2012
367:tofu
360:and
342:Hull
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273:J1d
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