Brazil recovers ancient human fossil fragments from burnt Rio museum
(Artdaily.org)

Brazilian officials said Friday they have recovered pieces of a 12,000-year-old fossil of a neolithic woman that was among the prized artifacts in Rio de Janeiro`s burnt down National Museum. `We found almost all of the skull and 80 percent of its fragments have been identified,` museum director Alexander Kellner said, adding that fragments of a femur were also uncovered from the ashes. The fossil, nicknamed `Luzia,` was discovered in 1970 in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais by a French-led expedition. A Manchester University team later did a digital face reconstruction based on the skull, which was used to model a sculpture of the ancient woman. That sculpture went up in flames on September 2 along with most of the museum`s 20 million artifacts. But the original skull fragments, kept in a metal urn in a closet, were found a few days ago.