#  A Look Inside an Ancient Brain 

 





July 26, 2021

 

 

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 In a paper published in *Geology*, Javier Ortega-Hernandez and colleagues from the University of New England, The Natural History Museum, and Pomona College report a unique case of an exceptionally preserved nervous system in a 310 million-year-old fossil horseshoe crab from the world-famous Carboniferous Mazon Creek in Illinois, US. This is the first time that a complete fossilized brain has been discovered replicated in clay minerals. The fossil also shows that the nervous system of horseshoe crabs is surprisingly conservative in its organization.

 The authors provide a detailed accounting of the study in [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/ancient-brains-a-look-inside-the-extraordinary-preservation-of-a-310-million-year-old-nervous-system-164321?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitterbutton). Open Access publication of the paper is generously supported by the Museum of Comparative Zoology's [Wetmore Colles Fund](https://mcz.harvard.edu/wetmore-colles-grant).

#####  ***Image:** Specimen of the Carboniferous horseshoe crab Euproops danaewith fossilized nervous system. Image provided by Russell Bicknell, University of New England*



 

 

 



 

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