Neolithic Romeo and Juliet

[livius drusus]

Couple locked in 5,000-year embrace (http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_5176123). There's no way of knowing for sure that they were star-crossed lovers, of course, but given their final resting place I couldn't resist the splashy title.

Archaeologists have unearthed two skeletons from the Neolithic period locked in a tender embrace and buried outside Mantua, just 25 miles south of Verona, the romantic city where Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale of "Romeo and Juliet." Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, as their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archaeologist who led the dig.

"As far as we know, it's unique," Menotti told The Associated Press by telephone from Milan. "Double burials from the Neolithic are unheard of, and these are even hugging."

http://www.freethought-forum.com/livius/hug.jpg
(AP / Archeological Society SAP)

[BDS]

Very cool. It reminds me of the last scene in Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of Notre Dame". For the uninitiated, this differs considerably from the Disney cartoon version.

About eighteen months or two years after the events which terminate this story, when search was made in that cavern for the body of Olivier le Daim, who had been hanged two days previously, and to whom Charles VIII. had granted the favor of being buried in Saint Laurent, in better company, they found among all those hideous carcasses two skeletons, one of which held the other in its embrace. One of these skeletons, which was that of a woman, still had a few strips of a garment which had once been white, and around her neck was to be seen a string of adrézarach beads with a little silk bag ornamented with green glass, which was open and empty. These objects were of so little value that the executioner had probably not cared for them. The other, which held this one in a close embrace, was the skeleton of a man. It was noticed that his spinal column was crooked, his head seated on his shoulder blades, and that one leg was shorter than the other. Moreover, there was no fracture of the vertebrae at the nape of the neck, and it was evident that he had not been hanged. Hence, the man to whom it had belonged had come thither and had died there. When they tried to detach the skeleton which he held in his embrace, he fell to dust.

[Shelli]

That is pretty cool. :joecool2:

[livius drusus]

That's a beautiful passage, BDS.

[Ymir's blood]

Maybe they strangled each other?

[livius drusus]

:skullove:

[Mendeh]

What a beautiful discovery.

[cappuccino]

Won't it be ironic if both of the skeletons turned out to be male?

[livius drusus]

I don't know about ironic, but it would be rather delicious. I suspect they know the genders just from looking at the shapes of the pelvises, though, so I doubt they'll be talking about the Neolithic Adam and Steve anytime soon. :giggle:

[The Lone Ranger]

Yeah, it's easy-enough to tell the sexes. [The preferred term is "sex", by the way, not "gender".] I can't see the pelvic areas well-enough to be sure, but the one on the left appears to be male, from what I can see of the pelvis. The one on the right seems to be of smaller stature, and is likely female.

Cheers,

Michael

[MooseIBe]

I saw this in the paper. Didn't they both die from arrow wounds? though it's not known how or why, of course.