Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #MuseuNacional
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The skull of Luzia, the oldest human fossil ever found in Brazil, was found amidst the rubble after the fire at the National Museum. This is awesome. #MuseuNacional 
"We have found almost the entire skull and 80% of the fragments have already been identified," said Alexander Kellner, director of the museum.
Dating of the bones confirmed that at an age of 10,030 ± 60 14C yr BP (11,243–11,710 cal BP), Luzia is one of the most ancient American human skeletons ever discovered.
We thought it had been destroyed in the fire, but fortunately, it was not.
We thought it had been destroyed in the fire, but fortunately, it was not.
The National Museum has one million pieces to compose future collections. These are collections of botany, vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as a library with 500 thousand books.
They were not in the palace, and therefore were not destroyed.
#MuseuNacional
They were not in the palace, and therefore were not destroyed.
#MuseuNacional
Cristiana, one of the vice directors of the museum, said that much of the researches was saved, since departments had backed up the material, and one of the servers was not damaged by the fire. #MuseuNacional
People who are trying to blame the museum staff for what happened should watch the interview some of them gave yesterday, crying and explaining how much they begged the government for money. Brazil is a country where absolutely nothing works, and many professionals...
THREAD: I just got an update from one of the #MuseuNacional's curators, Débora Pires, on the current status of the collections. Here's what we know has been lost, what we know has been saved, and what's still unknown. #LutoMuseuNacional 1/
The entire entomological collection, some 5 million specimens, has been lost. They were in the palace, the main building. 2/
The entire arachnology collection has also been lost, as has much of the mollusk collection. However, 80% of the mollusk holotypes (the specimens that formally serve as the global reference for a given species) survived. 3/
The 150-year-old library with nearly 500,000 books (some of them very rare) was not reached by the flames and is safe. #MuseuNacional
The herbarium, vertebrate animals from the research collection, part of the collection of invertebrates, the main library, and the meteorite are safe too.
Nearly everything else (90%) was destroyed.
Nearly everything else (90%) was destroyed.
Firefighters found a skull amidst the rubble, which may be Luzia, the 11,500-year-old human fossil. Experts are analyzing it at the moment.
Some dinosaur bones survived as well.
Some dinosaur bones survived as well.
Many paintings
The artifacts that belonged to other cultures, such as the Egyptian mummies, were not “stolen”. They were all donated to the imperial family in the 1800s.
(It’s crazy that I need to explain this)
I am not sure we will ever be able to process the loss of Brazil's #MuseuNacional. It's not only a loss of specimens, documents, artifacts; it's the loss of future discovery and knowledge, not only by scholars examining the collection but by visitors sating their curiosity. /1
Many people consider #museums "attics"--the @smithsonian, for example, is the US's "national attic." When a museum sells a "beloved" artifact there's always a hue and cry about it. Think, for example, of Eakins' "The Gross Clinic" and the recent case of the Berkshire Museum. /2
"Attic" assumes dust, neglect, nostalgia, even an amnesia to be restored through discovery. #museums /3
Reproduzo aqui post da pesquisadora e amiga @Erika_Berenguer no Facebook: "Essa é a cara atual da ciência no país. Pesquisadores, no meio do domingo, correndo pra salvar o seu trabalho, a história do país, o conhecimento do mundo. Ser cientista no Brasil é... (1)" #MuseuNacional
"fazer estágio ganhando bolsa de R$400, enquanto os colegas de outras áreas ganham mais de R$1mil. É fazer mestrado e doutorado morando com os pais, porque a bolsa não dá pra pagar aluguel. É trabalhar de 8 da manhã até às 10 da noite, é trabalhar sábado..." (2/5)
", é trabalhar domingo, é passar mais tempo dentro do laboratório do que em casa. Ser cientista é acordar às 5 da manhã no mato, onde se toma banho de rio e faz-se as necessidades atrás de uma árvore. É pegar malária, dengue, zika e outras tantas doenças..." (3/5)
