Archaeological treasure trove found in Rio de Janeiro zoo

Rio de Janeiro — More than 30,000 archaeological items have been found at the Rio de Janeiro zoo during ongoing work to modernize it, the City Hall - which administers the facility - announced on Friday.

The large variety of objects - most of them from the 19th century - found by workers carrying out renovation and modernization work at the zoo is a find that is considered to be “a true archaeological treasure trove.”

The items, which experts say range from the beginning of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th in age, tell part of the history of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro and the Quinta de Boa Vista, the complex housing not only the zoo but also the palace where Brazil’s former imperial family lived.

“A good portion of the items date back to the mid-19th century, when on the site (where they were found) there existed a villa for employees of the Imperial Palace,” said the City Hall in a statement.

According to the report, many of the items originally were brought to Brazil from Europe by the Portuguese royal family, who arrived in Rio in 1808 fleeing the invasion of their homeland by Napoleon’s troops.

The Quinta, a large park in northern Rio, includes the Imperial Palace, where the National Museum now is and where a serious fire last year destroyed 90 percent of its holdings and thus a significant portion of the country’s history. The only portions of the building that could be salvaged after the blaze were part of its shell and the facade, and it is now in the process of being restored.

The park also includes the Rio Zoo, which is undergoing work to modernize its infrastructure.

The 30,000 objects include a large number from daily life including crockery, cups, plates, cutlery and tools, as well as buttons and clasps from military uniforms of the imperial epoch.

According to the City Hall, some of the objects will be made part of a permanent exhibit at the zoo, after it is modernized, and will be displayed at the site of a former technical training school for workers at the Imperial Palace.

The municipal authorities’ plan is for the attraction to be opened to the public at the end of this year.

Most of the items, however, will be given to the National Museum, meaning that many of them will wind up back at where they were used on a daily basis over a century ago.

The archaeological excavation and recovery work was accomplished by technicians with the Iphan national historic and artistic heritage institute and officials with the RioZoo Foundation.