The not-so-Dark Ages: Mummified head from 1200AD reveals enlightened doctors were dissecting human bodies centuries earlier than previously thought Scientists have found the oldest preserved human dissection in Europe Radiocarbon dating suggests the head and shoulders are from 1200AD Head so well preserved it retained a red beard Scientists have found what they believe to be the oldest preserved human dissection in Europe. The specimen, which shows signs of surprisingly advanced medical techniques, is made up of an adult human head and shoulders with the top of the skull and the brain removed. Radiocarbon dating puts the age of the head, which is being studied by Philippe Charlier at University Hospital R. Poincare in France, at between AD 1200 and AD 1280. Scientists have found what they believe to be the oldest preserved human dissection in Europe The researchers used medical scanners to create a 3D model of them, allowing them to see inside and analyse the methods used to preserve it The head's arteries are filled with a "metal wax" compound made up of beeswax, lime and cinnabar mercury. It was used as a preservative and as a way of giving the circulatory system some colour. The preservation was so successful that the head retains some of the red hairs that made up its beard and moustache. The head's arteries are filled with a "metal wax" compound - made up of beeswax, lime and cinnabar mercury - that was used as a preservative and as a way of giving the circulatory system some colour. The presence of this substance suggests unexpectedly sophisticated anatomical expertise during the Dark Ages, experts say. This contradicts previous theories that this was a period of little scientific advancement and it proves that the man's body was not simply dissected and then disposed of - it was preserved, possibly for use in medical experimentation. "It's state-of-the-art," Dr Charlier told LiveScience. I suppose that the preparator did not do this just one time, but several times, to be so good at this. The researchers have also been able to ascertain that when he died, the man only had four teeth left and that he was suffering from osteoarthritis. However, despite the sophistication of the preservation, the specimen has suffered some damage and shows evidence that it has been gnawed by rodents and infested with insects. The identity of the man is not known but the researchers, who are publishing their findings in the journal, Archives of Medical Science, suggest that he could have been an institutionalised person, a prisoner or a pauper whose body was never claimed. A scan showed that the arteries are filled with a 'metal wax' compound The specimen, which shows signs of surprisingly advanced dissection techniques, is made up of an adult human head and shoulders with the top of the skull and the brain removed The specimen, which is currently in a private collection, is to go on display at the Parisian Museum of the History of Medicine. "This is really interesting from a historical and archaeological point of view," Dr Charlier told LiveScience." He added: "We really have a lack of skeletons and anthropological pieces." Fragments of dissected human bodies from before the 19th century are very rare and have mainly been found in Venice, Italy, Marseille, France, Sens, France, and Douai, France. The first known human scientific dissections were carried out in Alexandria, Egypt, by Greek physicians in the early part of the third century BC. Human dissection made its first appearances in the Western world in Italy in the last decades of the 13th century. A close-up view of the head shows the preserved arteries Richard the Lionheart ended up with a heart full of daisies, mint and frankincense, a French study of his mummified heart has discovered. The analysis, by the same team who carried out the research above, also uncovered elements like creosote, mercury and perhaps lime in the heart. The king's heart has been in the western French city of Rouen since his death in 1199. The study's leader, Philippe Charlier, suggests the flowers and spices were to give the king the "odour of sanctity."Richard the Lionheart, leader of the Third Crusade, was ceremoniously laid to rest in three places. His entrails were interred in the central French town of Chalus, where he died in a skirmish with a rebellious baron; his body reposes at the Fontevraud Abbey, beside his father Henry II and later his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine; and his heart, wrapped in linen, pickled for posterity and placed in a lead box, was sent on to the Cathedral of Rouen. In 1838, the heart, already turned to powder, was rediscovered, transferred to a glass box and placed in Rouen's Departmental Museum of Antiquities. Charlier, a forensic medical examiner, and his 11-member team used the latest biomedical techniques to decipher the composition of The Lionheart's heart.