Rio de Janeiro - One of the oldest skeletons ever found in the
Americas may have survived the blaze that devastated the National
Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, the newspaper O Globo reported
Tuesday.
A firefighter who did not give his name said he had found a skull
inside an iron chest. The 11 000-year-old skeleton known as Luzia
Woman had been inside a chest, museum sources had said earlier.
The museum called for caution until the identity of the skull had
been confirmed.
The army meanwhile surrounded the building to prevent looting and to
protect firefighters who were extinguishing a few remaining pockets
of the blaze, which started late Sunday, according to O Globo.
The museum's entire collection of about 20 million exhibit items was
initially reported to have been destroyed, with the exception of
meteorites, which are resistant to high temperatures.
But the museum's deputy director Cristiana Serejo said late Monday
that 10% of the collection may have been spared.
However, the museum's Egyptian collection, which included mummies and
counted among the most important on the continent, was entirely
destroyed.
Television images showed almost all of the historic building, located
in the city's Sao Cristovao locality, in flames on Sunday.
The building had served as a museum since 1892 and was formerly a
residence of the Portuguese royal family and later of Brazil's
imperial family.
The National Museum is the South American country's oldest museum and
housed extensive geological, botanical, palaeontological and
archaeological collections.