Luzia
- Date
- 1974 · confidence high
- Place
- Pedro Leopoldo, Minas Gerais, Brazil
- Credited to
- Annette Laming-Emperaire
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
An Upper Paleolithic human skeleton about 11,500 years old, found in the Lapa Vermelha cave, one of the oldest human remains in the Americas; discovered by archaeologist Annette Laming-Emperaire.
What it led to
- Debate over the early peopling of the Americas
- Studies of the cranial morphology of the earliest Americans
- Facial reconstruction and science outreach (until its partial destruction in the 2018 National Museum of Brazil fire)