The recovery of visually recognizable brain masses from skeletonized human burials is rare; the discovery of an exceptionally well-preserved 2500-year-old brain during excavations at Heslington, Yorkshire, UK, therefore attracted international publicity. Analysis of a lipidic extract of that brain material showed the presence of high molecular weight organic components. To determine whether the presence of such compounds is a common feature of unusually preserved brain specimens, we have carried out high resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization Fourier transform ion-cyclotron resonance mass spectrometric (MALDI FT-ICR-MS) analyses of lipidic extracts of preserved brain remains from 14 contexts, obtained from four archaeological sites ranging from 200 to 2500 years old. These data allowed elemental formulae for the predominant signals in the resulting spectra to be generated, and a detailed comparison of the resulting very rich dataset was carried out, allowing 38 molecular formulae to be assigned. The components identified across all the sample extracts analysed fell into the same class of large organic molecules as those from the Heslington brain and are generally functionalized with low numbers of heteroatoms (oxygen, nitrogen, or both). These components do not correspond to those identified in adipocere, but instead resemble kerogen substructures, surprisingly formed over historic rather than geological timescales. The presence of such insoluble, inert structures would help explain why brain material in which they are found is persistent. Our results pave the way for further analyses aimed at understanding the processes that take place when brain material is preserved in the archaeological record.

从人类骸骨墓葬中恢复出可视觉识别的脑块的情况非常罕见。因此，在英国约克郡赫斯灵顿的挖掘过程中发现了保存异常完好的 2500 年前的大脑，引起了国际舆论的关注。对大脑材料的脂质提取物的分析表明存在高分子量有机成分。为了确定此类化合物的存在是否是异常保存的脑标本的共同特征，我们对脂质进行了高分辨率基质辅助激光解吸/电离傅里叶变换离子回旋共振质谱（MALDI FT-ICR-MS）分析。保存完好的大脑遗骸的提取物来自 14 个地点，取自 4 个距今 200 至 2500 年的考古遗址。这些数据允许生成所得光谱中主要信号的元素公式，并对所得非常丰富的数据集进行详细比较，从而指定 38 个分子式。在分析的所有样品提取物中鉴定出的成分与来自赫斯灵顿大脑的成分属于同一类大有机分子，并且通常用少量杂原子（氧、氮或两者）进行功能化。这些成分与脂肪蜡中发现的成分并不对应，而是类似于干酪根亚结构，令人惊讶的是，它们是在历史而非地质时间尺度上形成的。这种不溶性惰性结构的存在将有助于解释为什么含有它们的大脑物质是持久的。我们的结果为进一步分析铺平了道路，旨在了解大脑材料保存在考古记录中时发生的过程。