The brains in the archive belonged to all manner of individuals, including Egyptian royalty, British monks, Arctic explorers and victims of war.
Researchers have created an unprecedented archive of thousands of human brains preserved in the archaeological record, some of which date back several millennia.A team led by Alexandra Morton-Hayward, a forensic anthropologist and doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford's Department of Earth Sciences in the United Kingdom, reviewed the scientific literature and canvassed archaeologists around the world for a research project.
'I think what's really intriguing about this research is that although we know the brain can liquefy really quickly, clearly, in some circumstances, it also preserves and on incredibly long timescales,' Morton-Hayward told Newsweek. 'So, I would argue that we need to start thinking in greater depth about soft tissue preservation.'The brains in the archive are universally described as discolored and shrunken to varying degrees.
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