Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from Heslington, Yorkshire, UK

Sonia O'Connor; Esam Ali; Salim Al-Sabah; Danish Anwar; Ed Bergström; Keri A. Brown; Jo Buckberry; Stephen Buckley; Matthew Collins; John Denton; Konrad M. Dorling; Adam Dowle; Phil Duffey; Howell G.M. Edwards; Elsa Correia Faria; Peter Gardner; Andy Gledhill; Karl Heaton; Carl Heron; Rob Janaway; Brendan J. Keely; David King; Anthony Masinton; Kirsty Penkman; Axel Petzold; Matthew D. Pickering; Martin Rumsby; Holger Schutkowski; Kimberley A. Shackleton; Jerry Thomas; Jane Thomas-Oates; Maria Raimonda Usai; Andrew S. Wilson; Terry O'Connor

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.030

Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from Heslington, Yorkshire, UK

Sonia O'Connor^*, Esam Ali, Salim Al-Sabah, Danish Anwar, Ed Bergström, Keri A. Brown, Jo Buckberry, Stephen Buckley, Matthew Collins, John Denton, Konrad M. Dorling, Adam Dowle, Phil Duffey, Howell G.M. Edwards, Elsa Correia Faria, Peter Gardner, Andy Gledhill, Karl Heaton, Carl Heron, Rob JanawayBrendan J. Keely, David King, Anthony Masinton, Kirsty Penkman, Axel Petzold, Matthew D. Pickering, Martin Rumsby, Holger Schutkowski, Kimberley A. Shackleton, Jerry Thomas, Jane Thomas-Oates, Maria Raimonda Usai, Andrew S. Wilson, Terry O'Connor

^*Corresponding author for this work

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Archaeological work in advance of construction at a site on the edge of York, UK, yielded human remains of prehistoric to Romano-British date. Amongst these was a mandible and cranium, the intra-cranial space of which contained shrunken but macroscopically recognizable remains of a brain. Although the distinctive surface morphology of the organ is preserved, little recognizable brain histology survives. Though rare, the survival of brain tissue in otherwise skeletalised human remains from wet burial environments is not unique. A survey of the literature shows that similar brain masses have been previously reported in diverse circumstances. We argue for a greater awareness of these brain masses and for more attention to be paid to their detection and identification in order to improve the reporting rate and to allow a more comprehensive study of this rare archaeological survival.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume	38
Issue number	7
Pages (from-to)	1641-1654
Number of pages	14
ISSN	0305-4403
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.030
Publication status	Published - Jul 2011

Keywords

Adipocere
Brain tissue
Burial environment
Decapitation
Putrefaction
Waterlogging

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O'Connor, S., Ali, E., Al-Sabah, S., Anwar, D., Bergström, E., Brown, K. A., Buckberry, J., Buckley, S., Collins, M., Denton, J., Dorling, K. M., Dowle, A., Duffey, P., Edwards, H. G. M., Faria, E. C., Gardner, P., Gledhill, A., Heaton, K., Heron, C., ... O'Connor, T. (2011). Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from Heslington, Yorkshire, UK. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(7), 1641-1654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.030

O'Connor, S, Ali, E, Al-Sabah, S, Anwar, D, Bergström, E, Brown, KA, Buckberry, J, Buckley, S, Collins, M, Denton, J, Dorling, KM, Dowle, A, Duffey, P, Edwards, HGM, Faria, EC, Gardner, P, Gledhill, A, Heaton, K, Heron, C, Janaway, R, Keely, BJ, King, D, Masinton, A, Penkman, K, Petzold, A, Pickering, MD, Rumsby, M, Schutkowski, H, Shackleton, KA, Thomas, J, Thomas-Oates, J, Usai, MR, Wilson, AS & O'Connor, T 2011, 'Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from Heslington, Yorkshire, UK', Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 38, no. 7, pp. 1641-1654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.030

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abstract = "Archaeological work in advance of construction at a site on the edge of York, UK, yielded human remains of prehistoric to Romano-British date. Amongst these was a mandible and cranium, the intra-cranial space of which contained shrunken but macroscopically recognizable remains of a brain. Although the distinctive surface morphology of the organ is preserved, little recognizable brain histology survives. Though rare, the survival of brain tissue in otherwise skeletalised human remains from wet burial environments is not unique. A survey of the literature shows that similar brain masses have been previously reported in diverse circumstances. We argue for a greater awareness of these brain masses and for more attention to be paid to their detection and identification in order to improve the reporting rate and to allow a more comprehensive study of this rare archaeological survival.",

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author = "Sonia O'Connor and Esam Ali and Salim Al-Sabah and Danish Anwar and Ed Bergstr{\"o}m and Brown, {Keri A.} and Jo Buckberry and Stephen Buckley and Matthew Collins and John Denton and Dorling, {Konrad M.} and Adam Dowle and Phil Duffey and Edwards, {Howell G.M.} and Faria, {Elsa Correia} and Peter Gardner and Andy Gledhill and Karl Heaton and Carl Heron and Rob Janaway and Keely, {Brendan J.} and David King and Anthony Masinton and Kirsty Penkman and Axel Petzold and Pickering, {Matthew D.} and Martin Rumsby and Holger Schutkowski and Shackleton, {Kimberley A.} and Jerry Thomas and Jane Thomas-Oates and Usai, {Maria Raimonda} and Wilson, {Andrew S.} and Terry O'Connor",

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AU - Keely, Brendan J.

AU - King, David

AU - Masinton, Anthony

AU - Penkman, Kirsty

AU - Petzold, Axel

AU - Pickering, Matthew D.

AU - Rumsby, Martin

AU - Schutkowski, Holger

AU - Shackleton, Kimberley A.

AU - Thomas, Jerry

AU - Thomas-Oates, Jane

AU - Usai, Maria Raimonda

AU - Wilson, Andrew S.

AU - O'Connor, Terry

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Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from Heslington, Yorkshire, UK

Abstract

Keywords

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