Britain’s 'oldest brain' is dug up in York (From York Press)

Britain’s 'oldest brain' is dug up in York

10:05am Friday 12th December 2008 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

Staff from York Archaeological Trust excavating in the general area where the brain pit was located

BRITAIN’S oldest surviving human brain has been discovered during an archaeological dig on the outskirts of York.

The brain, dating back at least 2,000 years to the Iron Age, was unearthed during excavations on the site of the University of York’s £500 million campus expansion at Heslington East.

It was found in a muddy pit in an area of extensive prehistoric farming landscape of fields, trackways and buildings dating back to at least 300BC, and experts believe it may have been a ritual offering.

Rachel Cubitt, of the York Archaeological Trust, which was commissioned by the university to carry out the exploratory dig, was cleaning the soil-covered skull’s outer surface when she felt something move inside the cranium.

Peering through the base of the skull, she spotted an unusual yellow substance. “It jogged my memory of a university lecture on the rare survival of ancient brain tissue,” she said. “We gave the skull special conservation treatment as a result, and sought expert medical opinion.”

Startlingly clear images of the skull’s contents were then produced by the CT scanner at York Hospital, where consultant neurologist 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.”

Dr Sonia O’Connor, research fellow in archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford, 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 United Kingdom, and one of the earliest worldwide.”

The find is the second major discovery in digs during the campus expansion. Earlier this year, a team from the University of York’s Department of Archaeology unearthed the skeleton of a man believed to be one of Britain’s earliest victims of tuberculosis.

Vice-Chancellor 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.”

A team of specialists is now set to carry out further tests on the skull, hoping to solve the mystery of why such brains survive death and burial, and discover new information about burial practices, the nature of the burial environment and, perhaps, about the individual whose brain it was.