
Prehistoric Human Brain Found Pickled in Bog - joeyespo
http://news.discovery.com/history/preserved-brain-bog-england-110406.html
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ballooney
I'm not sure 2600 years old is particularly 'prehistoric' is it? I appreciate
I might just be being English ('in america a 100 years is a long time and in
england 100 miles is a long way' etc) but I mean that's not far off being
contemporary with Plato and about contemporary with Parmenides. Prehistoric in
the UK, in my anecdotal experience, is more like >=5000 years old (for example
Stone Henge falls squarely into being 'prehistoric'.) And I'm sure the
Mesopotamians felt pretty old by then anyway.

Any historian HNers know more about if there are any culturally specific
definitions of prehistory?

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Scriptor
Technically 'prehistoric' could fit. The remains are from a time before
written records existed there.

But when you consider that written records had already long existed elsewhere
in the world and that 'prehistoric' can go as far back as ancient mammals and
even dinosaurs, it becomes a rather vague term.

However, in this case it's useful to describe it as prehistoric because this
is the only type of evidence we have of their culture. Since there are very
few written records, archaeological remains are the best bet for learning more
about them, which is why finding something this well-preserved can be
particularly exciting.

Otherwise, as far as I know human the brain belonged to is pretty much
anatomically and genetically the same as modern humans.

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rbanffy
> The remains are from a time before written records existed there.

As William Gibson would certainly say, the future has never been evenly
distributed.

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apaprocki
If anyone didn't notice, this story is from Wed Apr 6, 2011. It is linked from
a larger story about hundreds of warriors being found in the bog which was
posted yesterday:

[http://news.discovery.com/history/army-danish-
bog-120816.htm...](http://news.discovery.com/history/army-danish-
bog-120816.html)

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DanielBMarkham
There has been some work saying that you can preserve life by immediately
removing oxygen from the cells. The theory is that the damage from death
happens as the oxygen levels slowly decay, causing all sorts of damage. If you
could exsanguinate a body immediately, then preserve it in an oxygen-free
environment, it might have a chance of being revived. (Wish there was more
news about this idea)

If that's true, perhaps future generations might view finding this guy's brain
as a great tragedy, because we lost a chance to actually bring somebody back
from the Iron Age.

Admittedly this is highly-speculative BS. But hey, it's the internet.

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whileonebegin
I just want to add, the subject was hanged and decapitated. For what, we'll
probably never know. But just think about that with regard to bringing him
back to life.

~~~
rbanffy
I am not convinced the people who killed this guy were particularly cautious
when applying capital punishment.

But, again, nobody can be sure how good his lawyer was, since there is no
written record of the criminal process that led to his execution in such...
creative ways.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Since it's Friday evening, a great book on creative executions is "The
Executioner Always Chops Twice" -- fun and quick read.

<http://amzn.to/OnxaU7>

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lenkite
This really isn't pre-history since there are Sumer tablets that are dated
around 2500 BC. See
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Letter_Luenna_Louvre_AO423...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Letter_Luenna_Louvre_AO4238.jpg)

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davidw
Scientists described the brain as not dissimilar from one found pickled in a
local pub.

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thinkingisfun
Little hint for the next time.. "bog" is british slang for "toilet". At first
I read "blog", then "toilet", and by the time I got to the article I was
already in quite the silly mood, which is inappropriate for science.

~~~
sdfjkl
bog |bɒg| noun

1 an area of wet muddy ground that is too soft to support a heavy body: a peat
bog | figurative : a bog of legal complications | [ mass noun ] : the island
is a wilderness of bog and loch. • Ecology wetland with acid peaty soil,
typically dominated by peat moss. Compare with fen1.

2 (the bog) Brit. informal the toilet.

~~~
thinkingisfun
I didn't mean to imply it means ONLY toilet, so I, uhm, thanks, but I knew
that.

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maeon3
Do we have any dna samples of humans from 2500 years ago? I'd like to see What
has changed genetically since then.

~~~
arethuza
Mitochondrial DNA has been extracted from samples found in the UK which are up
to 12,000 years old:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_Man>

