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Found by UK researchers in York, the brain was found in a decapitated skull aged 2,684 years. The brain is the oldest found brain in Europe or Asia, and is thought to be the best-preserved in the world.
The finding is particularly astonishing because, even when left on a counter in a chilled mortuary facility, brains tend to degrade quickly into liquid. This one, however, had the consistency of tofu, and had none of the distinctive smell so often associated with dead corpses.
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Sonia O'Connor and her colleagues believe that the person was hanged, and then the skull was decapitated.
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Because the brain had been preserved in a water-logged pit free of oxygen, either having been placed there or having fallen in, the brain was kept fresh.
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Unfortunately, while the brain's appearance has been kept fresh, the cells and tissues have long died, though that is of course expected under the circumstances.
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Though the rest of his body was not located at the site, the head of a deer was.
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