Lagoa Santa (Holy Lagoon) is aBrazilianmunicipality and region in thestate ofMinas Gerais. It is located 37 km north-northeast fromBelo Horizonte and belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte. In 2020 the estimated population was 65,657.[1]
The Danish palaeontologistPeter Wilhelm Lund, known as the father of Brazilian paleontology, discovered a cave filled with human bones (15 skeletons) andmegafauna (very large mammals) dating to thePleistocene era.Eugen Warming assisted Lund 1863–1866, and described the flora of the area and the adaptations of the plants to the hazards ofcerrado – drought and fire – in a work that still stands as a paradigm of ecological study ('Lagoa Santa'). The tomb of illustratorPeter Andreas Brandt, also an assistant of Lund, is located in the town.[2]The municipality contains 56% of the 2,004 hectares (4,950 acres)Sumidouro State Park, created in 1980, which protects the cave where Lund made his discovery of the "Lagoa Santa Man".[3]
A century later, in the 1970s, French archeologistAnnette Laming-Emperaire carried out excavations in the area and discovered the oldest human fossil in Brazil, over 11 thousand years old, given the nicknameLuzia.
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19°37′37″S43°53′24″W / 19.62694°S 43.89000°W /-19.62694; -43.89000
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