2,000-year-old skull found with well-preserved brain

BRITISH archaeologists have unearthed an ancient skull carrying a startling surprise — an unusually well-preserved brain.

Scientists said yesterday that the mass of grey matter was more than 2,000 years old — the oldest ever discovered in Britain. One expert unconnected with the find called it “a real freak of preservation.”

The skull was severed from its owner some time before the Roman invasion of Britain and found in a muddy pit during a dig at the University of York, in northern England, according to Richard Hall, a director of York Archaeological Trust.