11,000-year-old Skeleton Among Victims of Brazil Museum Fire

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September 4, 2018

A fire has destroyed millions of artifacts housed in the National Museum of Brazil, including America's oldest human remains.

National Museum of Brazil fire

The fire in the Rio de Janeiro museum went unchecked for several hours and destroyed most of the building, which was already in disrepair. About 10 percent of the museum's collection survived the blaze, the cause of which was still unknown for sure. Compounding the problem, the building's smoke detectors were inoperative, the building had no fire-suppression system, and the fire hydrants closest to the museum had no water (so firefighters had to get water from a nearby pond). Luzia skull

Among the more than 20 million artifacts lost was Luzia, the 11,000-year-old skull of a PaleoIndian woman. Discovered in Lapa Vermelha in 1975, Luzia survives in the person of her skull and parts of her legs and pelvis. A cast of her skull is at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Also lost were many, many other priceless things from Ancient Egypt, Mesoamerica, Ancient Rome, and elsewhere. One of the Egyptian artifacts was a rare unopened sarcophagus, with the mummy still inside. Among the Roman artifacts were frescoes from the 1st Century A.D. Represented in the Mesoamerican collections were artifacts from the Inca, Moche, and Nazca cultures.

A group of people gathered outside the museum to protest the general disrepair into which the building had fallen.

In the wake of funding rerouted to pay for the 2016 Summer Olympics, the National Museum and other government entities received less and less funding. Some museum employees were collecting money to fund the museum's cleaning, some reports said. However, the government had in June approved a $5 million overhaul of the building, including an upgrade to its fire prevention system. That work was due to start in October.

One thing that did survive was the largest iron meteorite ever found in the country. The famed Bendegó Meteorite weighs nearly 6 tons and was discovered by a farmboy in the state of Bahia in 1784.

Meteorite in Brazil museum

The museum was Brazil's oldest scientific and historic institution. Founded by King John VI of Portugal in 1818, the National Museum once was home to the Portuguese Royal Family and the Brazilian Imperial Family and was the location for the signing of the document that gave Brazil its independence in 1822.

The building became the museum in 1892 and became part of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1946.

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Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2018
David White

Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2019
David White