The difference was real and measurable.

The interpretation of what the difference meant would turn out to be far more complicated than anyone initially assumed.

Lagoa Santa is not simply a collection of bones.

It is one of the richest early Holocene archaeological records in the Western Hemisphere.

The caves and rock shelters of the region contain not just skeletal material but evidence of the daily lives of the people who lived there: tools made from stone and bone, evidence of fire use, plant remains that reveal what people ate, and a body of rock art painted on the walls and ceilings of the shelters that offers a visual record of how these ancient people represented their world and themselves.

The rock art alone would make Lagoa Santa archaeologically significant.