Examine individual changes

''''Luzia Woman''' ({{IPA-pt|luˈzi.ɐ}}) is the name for an Upper Paleolithic period skeleton of a [[Paleo-Indians|Paleo-Indian]] woman, who was found in a cave in [[Brazil]]. Some archaeologists believe the young woman may have been part of the first wave of immigrants to South America. Nicknamed Luzia (her name pays homage to the famous African fossil "[[Lucy (Australopithecus)|Lucy]]", who lived 3.2 million years ago), the 11,500 year-old skeleton was found in Lapa Vermelha, Brazil, in 1975 by archaeologist [[Annette Laming-Emperaire]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/luzia.html|title=Luzia Woman|publisher=Discovery Communications Inc.|author=C. Smith|year= 1999 |accessdate=2007-12-21}}</ref> [[File:IMG Montagem wiki sharpen.png|right|thumb|Computerized reconstruction of Luzia's face. Skin color and hair features are suppositions.]] == Discovery == Luzia was originally discovered in 1975 in a [[rock shelter]] by a joint French-Brazilian expedition that was working not far from [[Belo Horizonte]], Brazil. The remains were not articulated. The skull, which was separated from the rest of the skeleton but was in surprisingly good condition, was buried under more than forty feet of mineral deposits and debris. There were no other human remains at the site. New dating of the bones announced in 2013 confirmed that at an age of 10,030 ± 60 14C yr [[Before Present|BP]](11,243–11,710 cal BP). Luzia is one of the most ancient American human skeletons ever discovered.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Fontugne|first=MIchel|title=New Radiocarbon Ages of Luzia Woman, Lapa Vermelha IV Site, Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, Brazil|journal=Proceedings of the 21st International Radiocarbon Conference|year=2013|volume=55|issue=2-3|doi=10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16253|url=https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/view/16253/pdf|accessdate=27 December 2013}}</ref> [[Forensic]]s have determined that Luzia died in her early 20s. Although flint tools were found nearby, hers are the only human remains in Vermelha Cave. == Phenotypical analysis == [[File:Lapa Vermelha IV Hominid 1-Homo Sapiens 11,500 Years Old.jpg|thumb|A cast of Luzia's skull at the [[Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History]].]] Her facial features include a narrow, oval cranium, projecting face and pronounced chin, strikingly dissimilar to most native Americans and their [[Indigenous peoples of Siberia|indigenous Siberian forebears]]. Anthropologists have variously described Luzia's features as resembling those of [[Negroid]]s, [[Indigenous Australians]], [[Melanesians]] and the [[Negrito]]s of [[Southeast Asia]]. [[Walter Neves]], an anthropologist at the University of São Paulo, suggests that Luzia's features most strongly resemble those of Australian Aboriginal peoples. [[Richard Neave]] of Manchester University, who undertook a [[Forensic facial reconstruction|facial reconstruction]] of Luzia described it as negroid.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01EFDC1438F935A15753C1A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2|title=An Ancient Skull Challenges Long-Held Theories|author=Larry Rohter|publisher=New York Times|date=26 Oct 1999|accessdate=2008-02-15}}</ref> Neves and other Brazilian anthropologists have theorized that Luzia's Paleo-Indian predecessors lived in South East Asia for tens of thousands of years, after migrating from Africa, and began arriving in the [[New World]], as early as 15,000 years ago. Some anthropologists have hypothesized that Paleo-Indians migrated along the coast of East Asia and [[Beringia]] in small watercraft, before or during the last Ice Age.{{fact|date=June 2014}} Neves' conclusions have been challenged by research done by anthropologists Rolando Gonzalez-Jose, Frank Williams and William Armelagos who have shown in their studies that the cranio-facial variability could just be due to genetic drift and other factors affecting cranio-facial plasticity in Native Americans.<ref>{{cite journal |author=van Vark GN, Kuizenga D, Williams FL |title=Kennewick and Luzia: lessons from the European Upper Paleolithic |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=121 |issue=2 |pages=181–4; discussion 185–8 |date=June 2003 |pmid=12740961 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.10176}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Stuart J. |last1=Fiedel |year=2004 |title=The Kennewick Follies: 'New' Theories about the Peopling of the Americas |journal=Journal of Anthropological Research |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=75-110 |jstor=3631009}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=González-José R, Bortolini MC, Santos FR, Bonatto SL |title=The peopling of America: craniofacial shape variation on a continental scale and its interpretation from an interdisciplinary view |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=137 |issue=2 |pages=175–87 |date=October 2008 |pmid=18481303 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.20854}}</ref> A comparison in 2005 of the Lagoa Santa specimens, with modern [[Botocudo people|Botocudos]] of the same region, also showed strong affinities, leading Neves to classify the Botocudos as Paleo-Indians.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.jornaldaciencia.org.br/Detalhe.jsp?id=32121 |title=Os sobreviventes: Crânios de índios extintos do Brasil Central indicam elo com primeiros povoadores da América |trans_title=Survivors: skulls of extinct Indians of Central Brazil indicate link with the first settlers of America |language=Portuguese |first=Reinaldo José |last=Lopes |journal=Jornal da Ciência |date=10 Oct 2005 |accessdate=2008-02-15}}</ref> == Anthropometry == Luzia stood just under five feet tall—about one-third of her skeleton has been recovered. Her remains seem to indicate that she died either in an accident or as the result of an animal attack. She was a member of a group of [[hunter-gatherer]]s. == See also == *[[Arlington Springs Man]]&nbsp;— Human remains *[[Calico Early Man Site]]&nbsp;— Archeological site *[[Cueva de las Manos]]&nbsp;— Cave paintings *[[Buhl Woman]]&nbsp;— Human remains *[[Fort Rock Cave]]&nbsp;— Archeological site *[[Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas]] *[[Kennewick Man]]&nbsp;— Human remains *[[Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi]]&nbsp;— Human remains *[[Marmes Rockshelter]]&nbsp;— Archeological site *[[Settlement of the Americas]] *[[Mummy Cave]]&nbsp;— Archeological site *[[Paisley Caves]]&nbsp;— Archeological site *[[Peñon woman]]&nbsp;— Human remains *[[Xá:ytem]]&nbsp;— Archeological site == References == {{Reflist}} {{Indigenous peoples of the Americas}} {{Pre-Columbian}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Luzia Woman}} [[Category:Anthropology]] [[Category:Archaeology of Brazil]] [[Category:Archaic period in the Americas]] [[Category:Human remains (archaeological)]] [[Category:Paleoindian period]] [[Category:Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact]] [[Category:Indigenous people of the Amazon]] [[Category:1975 archaeological discoveries]] [[Category:People who were forensically reconstructed]]'