The Hindu : Fossilised baby brain found in T.N.

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Sunday, Apr 13, 2003

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Fossilised baby brain found in T.N.

By P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI April 12. In a rather rare discovery, archaeologists have found a well-preserved human brain from a site in Tamil Nadu. The fossilised brain, which is estimated to be about 1,87,000 years old, appears to be that of a baby less than five months old.

The discovery is considered unusual as normally only pieces of the outer skulls are found. In this case, the archaeologists have found a complete skull with a fossilised brain inside the cranium (the brain case).

Announcing their find in a report in the latest issue of science journal Current Science, the archaeologists team, led by P. Rajendran of the Department of History in Kerala University, noted that the milk teeth were also found intact, indicating that the brain was that of a baby not more than five months old.

The discovery was made when the team was engaged in geo-archaeological exploration and excavation at Odai near Bommayarpalayam in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu. The site was about one km from the sea coast and about two km south of the Tamil Nadu-Pondicherry border. The specimen was found at a depth of about seven metres in what is called ferricrete deposits.

Normally, such specimens are extracted by dissolving the outer deposits with chemicals, or by digging it out with fine needles or drill. But, in this case, a close examination revealed that either procedure would not be advisable.

Consequently, the entire entombed fossil was dug out along with the surrounding ferricite deposit and it was studied with the help of modern medical scanning technologies such as CAT scan.

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