OXFORD, ENGLAND—According to a statement released by the University of Oxford, researchers surveying all the known recorded instances of the preservation of human brain tissue at archaeological sites have assembled a database of more than 4,000 human brains. Some 1,300 examples, including many dating as far back as 12,000 years ago, were the only soft tissue preserved in the remains of past people, suggesting brains may preserve better in some circumstances than other organs, perhaps due to the brain’s unique biochemistry or environmental factors. The researchers also suggest the sheer number of examples indicates that brain tissue survives at a rate much higher than scholars had previously supposed, and that future study of biomolecules in these brains might yield new insights into the lives of ancient people. "We’re finding amazing numbers and types of ancient biomolecules preserved in these archaeological brains," said study leader and paleobiologist Alexandra Morton-Hayward of the University of Oxford. "It’s exciting to explore all that they can tell us about life and death in our ancestors,” Read the original scholarly article about this research in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. To read more about what insights can come from archaeologists' study of human soft tissue, go to “Bog Bodies Rediscovered.”
