One of the most prized possessions of Brazil’s National Museum, which was gutted by a huge fire last month, has been found amid the debris: the oldest human fossil in the region, known as Luzia.

The museum director, Alexander Kellner, told The Associated Press on Friday that 80 percent of the fossil’s pieces had been found.

The fossil was discovered during an excavation in 1975 outside the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte. It was given the name Luzia in homage to “Lucy,” the famous 3.2 million-year-old remains found in Africa.

The National Museum held Latin America’s largest collection of historical artifacts, with about 20 million pieces. The fire, on Sept. 2, ravaged the stately, 200-year-old museum in Rio de Janeiro. Years of history encapsulated inside were thought to be lost.