A conscious rethink: Why is brain tissue commonly preserved in the archaeological record? Commentary on: Petrone P, Pucci P, Niola M, et al. Heat-induced brain vitrification from the Vesuvius eruption in C.E. 79. N Engl J Med 2020;382:383-4. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc1909867

TY - JOUR

T1 - A conscious rethink

T2 - Why is brain tissue commonly preserved in the archaeological record? Commentary on: Petrone P, Pucci P, Niola M, et al. Heat-induced brain vitrification from the Vesuvius eruption in C.E. 79. N Engl J Med 2020;382:383-4. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc1909867

AU - Morton-Hayward, Alexandra L.

AU - Thompson, Tim

AU - Thomas-Oates, Jane E.

AU - Buckley, Stephen

AU - Petzold, Axel

AU - Ramsøe, Abigail

AU - O’Connor, Sonia

AU - Collins, Matthew J.

N1 - © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

PY - 2020/9/14

Y1 - 2020/9/14

N2 - Brain tissue is ubiquitous in the archaeological record. Multiple, independent studies report the finding of black, resinous or shiny brain tissue, and Petrone et al. [2020 “Heat-induced Brain Vitrification from the Vesuvius Eruption in C.E. 79.” N Engl J Med. 382: 383–384; doi:10.1056/NEJMc1909867] raise the intriguing prospect of a role for vitrification in the preservation of ancient biomolecules. However, Petrone et al. (2020) have not made their raw data available, and no detailed laboratory or analytical methodology is offered. Issues of contamination and misinterpretation hampered a decade of research in biomolecular archaeology, such that addressing these sources of bias and facilitating validation of specious findings has become both routine and of paramount importance in the discipline. We argue that the evidence they present does not support their conclusion of heat-induced vitrification of human brain tissue, and that future studies should share palaeoproteomic data in an open access repository to facilitate comparative analysis of the recovery of ancient proteins and patterns of their degradation.

AB - Brain tissue is ubiquitous in the archaeological record. Multiple, independent studies report the finding of black, resinous or shiny brain tissue, and Petrone et al. [2020 “Heat-induced Brain Vitrification from the Vesuvius Eruption in C.E. 79.” N Engl J Med. 382: 383–384; doi:10.1056/NEJMc1909867] raise the intriguing prospect of a role for vitrification in the preservation of ancient biomolecules. However, Petrone et al. (2020) have not made their raw data available, and no detailed laboratory or analytical methodology is offered. Issues of contamination and misinterpretation hampered a decade of research in biomolecular archaeology, such that addressing these sources of bias and facilitating validation of specious findings has become both routine and of paramount importance in the discipline. We argue that the evidence they present does not support their conclusion of heat-induced vitrification of human brain tissue, and that future studies should share palaeoproteomic data in an open access repository to facilitate comparative analysis of the recovery of ancient proteins and patterns of their degradation.

KW - Brain tissue

KW - lipids

KW - palaeoproteomics

KW - proteins

KW - soft tissue preservation

KW - vitrification

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85094959502&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/20548923.2020.1815398

DO - 10.1080/20548923.2020.1815398

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85094959502

SN - 2054-8923

VL - 6

SP - 87

EP - 95

JO - Science and Technology of Archaeological Research

JF - Science and Technology of Archaeological Research

IS - 1

ER -