Archaeologists believe they have discovered one of the worlds oldest brains that once belonged to a man in Iron Age Britain who was sacrificed in a ritual killing. Scientists found the cranium in a muddy pit when they were excavating a site before a new campus was to be built at the University of York. When a researcher reached inside the skull, she was stunned to discover the soft tissue of the 2,500-year-old brain still preserved. Fractures and marks on the bones suggest the man, who was aged between 26 and 45, died most probably from hanging, after which he was carefully decapitated and his head was then buried on its own. The survival of brain remains where no other soft tissues are preserved is extremely rare, said Sonia OConnor, research fellow in archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford. 'This brain is particularly exciting because it is very well preserved, even though it is the oldest recorded find of this type in the UK, and one of the earliest worldwide. Philip Duffey, a neurologist at York Hospital who scanned the skull, said: 'Im amazed and excited that scanning has shown structures which appear to be unequivocally of brain origin. 'I think that it will be very important to establish how these structures have survived, whether there are traces of biological material within them and, if not, what is their composition. Experts from York Archaeological Trust were commissioned by the university to carry out the exploratory dig last year before building work on the 750million campus expansion started. They discovered the solitary skull face-down in the pit in dark brown organic rich, soft sandy clay. The university put together a team of scientists, archaeologists, chemists, bio-archaeologists and neurologists, to establish how the mans brain, could have survived when all the other soft tissue had decayed leaving only the bone. The team is also investigating details of the mans death and burial that may have contributed to the survival of what is normally highly vulnerable soft tissue. DM