Scientists find 2,000-year-old brain in Britain

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER , Associated Press Writer

An image issued by the York Archaeological Trust on Friday Dec. 12, 2008 shows brain material as dark folded matter at the top of the head in this computer-generated view into the skull. British archaeologists working at a university campus have unearthed an ancient skull carrying a startling surprise _ an unusually well-preserved brain still inside. Scientists said Friday that the more than 2,000-year-old mass of gray matter was the oldest ever discovered in Britain. One expert unconnected with the find called it "a real freak of preservation." The skull -- which was severed from its corpse sometime before the Roman invasion of Britain _ was found in a muddy pit during a dig at the University of York in northern England in the fall of this year, according to Richard Hall, a director of York Archaeological Trust.