What Archaeologist Finds Inside Ancient Human Skull Leaves Experts Speechless

Doctors studying this human brain revealed that it just might help them fight dementia. Thousands of years ago, somewhere in the British village of Heslington between 673 and 482 BCE a man, who probably died a violent death, breathed his last. Experts speculate that the man died from a fractured spine and his severed head was thrown into a pit where it was encased in oxygen-free clay mud. Then in 2008, an excavation took place in Heslington where the York Archaeological Trust found the 2,600-year-old human brain inside the severed skull of the man who died thousands of years ago.

Experts claim that the skull belonged to a man who was probably between 26 and 45 years old at the time of his death. After more research, experts think that the man was hanged to death, and after his death, his head was severed with a knife and buried almost immediately. Although it is not clear why the man was killed, researchers think he may have been a victim of human sacrifice or ritual murder. Collection Projects Officer, Rachel Cubitt found the brain when she was cleaning the skull and was amazed to see that while the rest of the tissue on the skull had disappeared, the brain, which had shrunk to approximately 20% of its original size, was still intact.

According to HowStuffWorks brain tissues are the first to decompose, usually between three and seven minutes after death, and so experts couldn’t understand how this brain survived 2,600 years. Experts saw that the brain, which showed a few signs of decay, had a tough tofu-like texture and believe that the oxygen-free clay mud, which it was buried in, was the reason it survived the test of time. It is believed that the mixture of the oxygen-free clay mud and the brain’s fats and proteins were responsible for shrinking the brain as well as preserving its shape.

Early 2020 scientists agreed that the Heslington brain just might help them come up with a way to fight dementia. The correctly folded structures of the Heslington brain was made up of tight clusters of proteins called aggregates that prevented it from decomposing. Experts are now hoping to understand how diseases like Alzheimer’s affect the proteins in the brain and how aggregates can help them in their fight against dementia. The final analysis can help scientists come up with better treatment plans for medical conditions that have the ability to cause cognitive decline.

Do you think this man was hanged to death or was he a victim of human sacrifice? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to share this article with your friends!