Brain anatomy identified in ancient art including Venus of Willendorf and Eye of Horus. Brad Klaussen, a graphic designer, recognized brain anatomy compositions in ancient art including the Venus of Willendorf (approximately 30,000 years old), Artemis of Ephesus statues, and ram sphinxes of Karnak In 1990, Dr. Frank Meshberger published a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association identifying the shape of a human brain in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling painting of the Creation of Adam In 2007, neuroscientist Alejandro Palooi published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine responding to Meshberger's paper with additional Renaissance art examples
Brad Klaussen spotted brain anatomy in ancient art — the Venus of Willendorf (~30,000 years old), Artemis of Ephesus, and Karnak's ram sphinxes all show neural structures. Dr. Frank Meshberger (JAMA, 1990) found brain shapes in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, and Gary Osborne linked the Eye of Horus to a sagittal brain cross-section. Incredible!
Key Facts
- Brad Klaussen, a graphic designer, recognized brain anatomy compositions in ancient art including the Venus of Willendorf (approximately 30,000 years old), Artemis of Ephesus statues, and ram sphinxes of Karnak
- In 1990, Dr. Frank Meshberger published a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association identifying the shape of a human brain in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling painting of the Creation of Adam
- In 2007, neuroscientist Alejandro Palooi published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine responding to Meshberger's paper with additional Renaissance art examples
- Gary Osborne is credited as the first person to correlate the Eye of Horus symbol with the sagittal cross-section of the human brain
- The Eye of Horus is interpreted as depicting the thalamus, pituitary gland, pineal gland, corpus callosum, and ventricles of the brain
Source: Is the Eye of Horus a Map of the Human Brain? by The Cosmic Summit