The preserved tissue was dramatically reduced in size compared to living brain tissue.

Published accounts describe the preserved material as having shrunk to approximately one-quarter of the original volume of a living human brain — a result of water loss and structural alteration over thousands of years.

The material was not wet, soft, or pink.

It was dark, desiccated, and compressed.

The most that can be said about its appearance is that it was recognizable as tissue rather than as mere organic debris, and that careful microscopic examination revealed structural features that allowed researchers to identify what it had originally been.

Under light microscopy, the preserved material showed cellular features — nuclei, cell walls, structural elements — consistent with neural tissue.