The Heslington brain: characteristics of this historical anomaly

The Heslington brain is the oldest preserved human brain: it is 2,600 years old.

The Heslington brain, found in the county of Yorkshire, England, is the oldest preserved human brain in the world.. This discovery is not only a breakthrough for Archaeology, but also for Medicine, allowing to investigate ancient genetic tissues never observed before.

In this article we will see what are the characteristics of the Heslington brain, to whom it belonged, where and when it was discovered, the possible causes of its state of preservation and how important it has been for the different scientific fields.

What is the Heslington brain?

The Heslington brain is the oldest preserved human brain, dating back to 2600 years ago, specifically the Iron Age.. It is named after the place where it was found, in the town of Heslington, in the historic county of Yorkshire in northern England.

This brain belonged to a man of about 30 years, who had a tragic end being brutally beaten in the head, hanged and finally decapitated with a knife. It is not possible to know exactly what was the cause that led him to meet this terrible end, but it is believed that it could have been due to a it is believed that it may have been due to a ritual or human sacrifice, given the way in which he wasgiven the way in which he was killed and that his head was buried quickly.

How did the discovery occur?

The skull was found in Heslington, in 2008, during archaeological excavations being carried out by the University of York. There, remains of cultivated fields and of an ancient settlement estimated to have belonged to the Iron Age were found.

Along with other pits and ritual objects, a human skull was found with the lower jaw and the first two cervical vertebrae preserved.. Although at first it was not given more importance, when the archaeologist Rachel Cubitt cleaned it, she realized that inside there was a yellow substance that had not been considered before; for this reason she decided that it would be best to preserve the skull in a special way and to consult with medical experts given the strangeness of the finding.

One of the reasons why the brain was so well preserved is that the head was buried just after being decapitated.. Thus, the humid environment underground and the mud in which the skull was wrapped meant that the brain could be kept cold and prevented it from being in contact with the air, which prevented the batteries from forming and starting the decomposition process.

It also helped the cut and wounds that presented the skull, since in this way it was easier for humic acid, the main component of humic substances, to filter and access the brain, thus providing the characteristics of the environment and conservation already mentioned.

Analysis and research on the Heslington brain.

Given the good condition of the brain, never before had such an old brain been found in such conditions; this made it possible to analyze it and to carry out different tests. It is very difficult to find tissue that has been preserved for so many years, since the corpse normally begins to decompose 36 hours after death and the skeletonization process takes place between 5 and 10 years. the skeletonization process takes place between 5 and 10 years..

Thus, through the study of the find it was found that the skull belonged to a middle-aged man, about 30 years old, who had been brutally murdered between the seventh and fifth century BC, more or less between 673 and 482 BC.

By means of a computerized axial tomography test, which makes it possible to obtain images of different brain slices, it was possible to observe the gray and white matter of the brain, it was possible to observe the typical gray and white matter that forms the brain, as well as the grooves, convolutions and gyri that form its structure.. Thus, despite being mixed with sediment and having been reduced to 20% of its size, the main structures and anatomical features of the brain were still visible.

But... What factors made it so well preserved after so many years? As we already know, a primary factor was the immediate preservation of the brain in a humid place without much air, oxygen. This fact has also been observed in other discoveries of brain remains not so old.

Another important finding was that no remains of adipocereal substance, a type of fat that appears in the brain.a type of fat that appears in corpses when they begin to decompose. This event was explained by alluding to the separation of the head and the body, so that the decomposition of the body did not affect the brain.

With regard to the disunion of the head and the body, it should also be noted that most of the decomposition of the corpse is due to a group of bacteria from the Gastrointestinal tract.. On this occasion, as the head was detached from the body, the bacteria could not reach it, thus helping the maintenance of the brain.

Another aspect that had never been observed before was also discovered; it was found that the main substances that form the brain under normal conditions, such as proteins and lipids, had been replaced by hydrocarbon molecules with a longer chain, had been replaced by hydrocarbon molecules with a longer chain and higher molecular weight.This fact had caused it to become more resistant.

Recently, on January 8, 2020, University College London neurologist Axel Petzold published new research in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, where he presented a study of the Heslington brain focused on the molecular perspective with special interest in proteins, responsible for connecting body tissue.

The research was intense and long, studying and observing how the proteins of that particular brain developed and evolved. The laboratory work bore fruit and more than 800 proteins were found and identified; it was surprising to observe that most of these proteins were still in good condition and could even generate an immune response. most of these proteins were still in good condition and could even generate an immune response..

It was thus pointed out that the greater resistance and the capacity to persist was due in part to the fact that they had been joined together, folded to form small packages that made them more compact and at the same time more stable than those found in normal situations in the brains of living people. Thus Petzold deduced that this state of protein compaction allowed the proteins to last longer, making them also more resistant to brain decomposition after death.

This finding was transcendent not only for archaeology but also in the field of medicine.The presence of these structures allowed the preservation of the material of Heslington's brain in perfect condition. These two structures are two types of brain fibers called neurofilaments and glial fibrillary acidic proteins, which work together to give more consistency and protect neurons and astrocytes, a type of glial cell.

It was also observed that the autolysis process of decomposition occurred in the outer parts of the gray matter and not in the inner parts of the white matter, where it is typically found. where it is typically found. For this reason, since there was no internal element of the brain to explain it, it was concluded that it was most likely that an external substance had entered the brain before or after the death of the victim, something propitiated perhaps by the type of death that took place.

Also this question remains an enigma and is not confirmed; other possibilities are still being considered, such as that it was the man himself who had an unclassified disease that favored the brain to remain in this state.

Thus, it is believed that it was a series of specific and determined conditions and factors, both before and after death, which allowed such preservation.that allowed such preservation.

Although more research is still needed, this discovery could facilitate a better understanding of the aging process of the brain and, in particular, neurodegenerative diseases involving proteins, as would be the case of some dementias. Similarly, these findings could also help researchers to obtain information from other ancient tissues from which it has not been possible to obtain the genetic material, DNA.