Signs of brain matter found in ancient skull

Norway: Archaeologists have experienced once-in-a-career sort of discovery of a possibly 8,000 year old Stone Age skull with possible traces of brain matter. Gaute Reitan, dig site leader and the excavation director at the University of Oslo's Museum of Cultural History said ""You can just think for yourself what that may be."

Containing in it a gray and clay-like matter, the skull has revealed clues of brain preservation. A test to find out if the specimen belonged to an animal or a human is going to be conducted by a bone specialist.

If the test confirms its initial identification as a human skull, this will turn out to be the oldest human brain tissue known to man. Last record was set last year by a 4000-year-old brain discovered in Turkey. Having access to such a find will lead to insights into the living conditions of people in Stone Age as well as individual's cause of death.

The slim odds of finding a cerebral remain inside a skull that old make it a rare discovery. There are enzymes in brain cells that accelerate decomposition immediately after death which makes it almost impossible to preserve them. However, in some cases have occurred in which preservation was successful by slowing down the degradation process of cells.

A number of other bones including a should bone have also been found at the site believed to be as old as the skull.