“This is really strange” – Researchers made a special discovery 12,000 years ago – 2024-04-07 23:59:10

A perplexing discovery. In more than 1,300 cases, the brain was preserved even though other organs were not.

Archaeologists have found a particularly well-preserved human brain. In more than 1,300 cases of extensive research, the brain has been the only preserved organ of the human body. Some of the brains are over 12,000 years old.

– This is really weird. We are not used to the brain being preserved this well in any environment, says a researcher from the University of Oxford Alexandra Morton-Hayward New Scientistille.

Discoveries where only the brain has been preserved have been made in humid environments, such as shipwrecks and water-filled graves. The grave in particular is a wild sight: bones and brains are floating in the water.

– The fact that we found brains in environments filled with water was particularly confusing.

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The brain is usually among the first organs to land. However, archaeologists have recently discovered that in some cases the brain is preserved better than expected. Morton-Hayward and his colleagues set out to study the phenomenon systematically.

The team compiled a database of well-preserved brains. There were more than 4,400 cases to investigate. Many of them were discovered by the group itself.

Most of the findings are explained by known processes: the brain may have been preserved, for example, by freezing or tanning. However, these processes should preserve all internal organs. They therefore do not explain the 1,300 cases in which only the brain has been preserved.

– This unknown mechanism is completely different from the others. All that’s left is brains and bones. No skin, no muscles, no other organs, Morton-Hayward is amazed.

However, archaeologists have a hypothesis. In some cases, chemical bonds can form between proteins and lipids, which form more stable and better preserved molecules. Brain proteins and lipids or their relative proportions may be ideal for this process.

If we get to know the mechanism better, it can also be useful in the field of neurology. It may be useful in the study and treatment of dementia.

– The process is similar to, for example, dementia. If we are able to understand what happens to our brains after death, we may also understand the aging brain better when we are alive, Morton-Hayward hopes.

The story was originally published in Tekniikka&Talous magazine.

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