Exceptionally Preserved 2,600-Year-Old Brain Found

TrueSatan writes with this quote from Discovery News: "A human skull dated to about 2,684 years ago with an 'exceptionally preserved' human brain still inside of it was recently discovered in a waterlogged U.K. pit, according to a new Journal of Archaeological Science study. The brain is the oldest known intact human brain from Europe and Asia, according to the authors, who also believe it's one of the best-preserved ancient brains in the world (PDF). 'The early Iron Age skull belonged to a man, probably in his thirties,' according to lead author Sonia O'Connor. 'Cause of death is rarely possible to determine in archaeological remains, but in this case, damage to the neck vertebrae is consistent with a hanging.'"

Re:Why is 3000 year old brain is a big deal?

[sinij]

Thing is, there is very little you could test unless you get this 3,000 year old brain to boot up. Think of it this way - you are handed 2 non-working CPUs, could you tell if they are different? Perhaps if they have physically different (but human brains naturally deviate from the norm), but unless you have an ability to reverse-engineer these CPUs (and we don't have that ability for human brains) both would be just chunks of silicon.

Related: Have you seen TED talk by Juan Enriquez?
http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_will_our_kids_be_a_different_species.html [ted.com]

"about"???

[mark-t]

".. dated to about 2,684 years ago"

Saying that it happened about 2684 years ago implies (at least to me) that they can date it between precisely 2683 and 2685 years. Does it not strike anyone else as odd that they could pinpoint something that long ago so precisely?

Re:Why is 3000 year old brain is a big deal?

[geekoid]

Oh, For the love of Jean-Martin Charcot, never compare the brain to a computer in that way.

"and we don't have that ability for human brains"
Stop it, jsut STOP! gah.

Shape, size, topology, chemical makeup all have meaningful information, even if we can't get to the memories.

Re:Intact human brain?

[icebike]

After a shot to your heart your brain is still intact, but will soon cease working.

"Will soon cease working" != "Doesn't work".

Guess why it will stop working? Because it will cease being intact (due to missing oxygen).

Obligatory car analogy:

My engine is no longer intact because I ran out of fuel?