ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2024
Human brains preserve in diverse environments for at least 12 000 years.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Molecular Solution to the Paradox of Ancient Brain Preservation.Journal of proteome research · 2026Article
- Unique formation of organic glass from a human brain in the Vesuvius eruption of 79 CE.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- An unclean slate, discrepancies between food input and recovered protein signal from experimental foodcrusts.PloS one · 2025Article
- Human brains preserve in diverse environments for at least 12 000 years.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
The brain is thought to be among the first human organs to decompose after death. The discovery of brains preserved in the archaeological record is therefore regarded as unusual. Although mechanisms such as dehydration, freezing, saponification, and tanning are known to allow for the preservation of the brain on short time scales in association with other soft tissues (≲4000 years), discoveries of older brains, especially in the absence of other soft tissues, are rare. Here, we collated an archive of more than 4400 human brains preserved in the archaeological record across approximately 12 000 years, more than 1300 of which constitute the only soft tissue preserved amongst otherwise skeletonized remains. We found that brains of this type persist on time scales exceeding those preserved by other means, which suggests an unknown mechanism may be responsible for preservation particular to the central nervous system. The untapped archive of preserved ancient brains represents an opportunity for bioarchaeological studies of human evolution, health and disease.
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