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Iron Age brain has experts using little grey cells
FOR more than 2,000 years, it had remained buried on the outskirts of one of Britain's most historic cities.
But now archaeologists have unearthed a macabre find on the edge of York – a skull containing the oldest surviving human brain matter ever found in Britain which is thought to date from the Iron Age.
Experts from the York Archaeological Trust believe the skull could have been a ritual offering, and it was discovered during one of the biggest excavations ever undertaken on the fringes of the city.
However, the archaeologists have yet to establish exactly how the person died – or how the brain has managed to survive throughout the intervening centuries after it was buried in a shallow 3ft pit.
The skull is now due to be carbon-dated and tests will also be carried out to establish a cause of death.
It is thought that the person was beheaded as no other remains were found with the skull. But the most intriguing element of the discovery is how the brain material has been preserved.
York Archaeological Trust's director of archaeology, Dr Richard Hall, said: "It is a once in a blue moon discovery.
"The archaeological dig has given us the chance to have a look at an Iron Age landscape as a whole – and that cannot be underestimated. But the discovery of the skull has been a real highlight.
"The big question is how the brain has survived – we simply do not know at the moment. It is a great opportunity to investigate an area of archaeology which we have had very little chance to do before, and it could throw up some fascinating answers."
The dig, which was carried out at Heslington East ahead of York University's 500m expansion, came to an end last month after the skull had been discovered earlier in the autumn.
However, tests have only now confirmed that the material inside the skull is actually remnants of the brain, which has shrunk in size through time.
It is thought that it could have been preserved because of the chemical properties in the soil – although no skin or other organic matter have survived.
Initial tests have been carried out using a sophisticated CT scanner at York Hospital which produced startlingly clear images of the contents of the skull. The brain is currently in environmentally controlled storage, still within the skull, before more tests are conducted.
A consultant neurologist at York Hospital, Philip Duffey, said: "I'm amazed and excited that scanning has shown structures which appear to be unequivocally of brain origin.
"I think that it will be very important to establish how these structures have survived, whether there are traces of biological material within them and, if not, what is their composition."
After the skull was discovered in the muddy circular pit close to an Iron Age ditch, the archaeological trust's finds officer, Rachel Cubitt, felt something move inside the cranium as she cleaned off soil. Peering through the base of the skull, she spotted an unusual yellow substance. She said: "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 find is the second major discovery during archaeological investigations on the site of York University's multi-million pound campus expansion.
Earlier this year, a team from the university's Department of Archaeology unearthed the skeleton of a man believed to be one of Britain's earliest victims of tuberculosis in a shallow grave.
Radiocarbon dating suggests that the man died in the fourth century late-Roman period.
The Vice-Chancellor of York University, Professor Brian Cantor, said: "The skull is another stunning discovery and its further study will provide us with incomparable insights into life in the Iron Age."
How water can preserve tissue
The discovery of the Iron Age brain remains a startling find even for a city as rich in archaeology as York.
And while it remains the oldest example of a human brain ever to be unearthed in Britain, the Yorkshire and Humber region has been the location of other intriguing discoveries.
More than 20 skulls dating from the medieval period and containing brain residue were discovered in Hull back in the mid-1990s, although many experts initially maintained that it was impossible for the organic matter to have survived. One of the theories as to why the brain material remained is because the soil was waterlogged and the moisture helped preserve the organic matter.
The skulls were discovered during an archaeological dig that was carried out at a former Augustinian friary at the site of Hull Magistrates' Court.
Dr Sonia O'Connor, a Research Fellow in Archaeological Sciences at Bradford University, has been involved with the initial tests which have been carried out on the human brain discovered at York.
It was found in the Heslington East archaeological dig spanning more than 16 acres which uncovered an area of extensive prehistoric farming landscape of fields, trackways and buildings dating back to at least 300 BC.
Dr O'Connor said: "The survival of brain remains where no other soft tissues are preserved is extremely rare.
"This brain is particularly exciting because it is very well preserved, even though it is the oldest recorded find of this type in the UK, and one of the earliest worldwide."
However, the earliest known human brains to ever be unearthed go way back beyond the Iron Age. Tests carried out on a skull found in Florida in America revealed that it contained brain material dating back to about 6,000 BC.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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