Eternal embrace? Couple still hugging 5,000 years on!

[Cypros]

geez, i just love how the media has to put a spin on everything.."two lovers locked into an eternal embrace"... romeo and juliet"... LOL! i mean, how do we know this wasn't a brother & sister?? not that they couldn't be brother & sister AND lovers,, but still. the fact is we don't know. they could have been neighbors, or strangers... or they could have been placed that way on purpose after death. perhaps their families wanted them to be together but they died too soon, so they placed them that way in hopes that they would be together in the afterlife.
as for the cause of death, my guesses are... famine, disease, hypothermia, volcano (do they have evidence that one may have erupted in the form of ash residue?... although judging by pompeii, usually they would be caught in a pose of agony and discomfort- trying to shield their mouths).
another question... are there any other significant archeological sites nearby? i wonder if they might have gotten lost, and died from exposure or hunger. another possibility.. they were banned from the tribe/town... considered possessed or perhaps there was something else wrong with them- or they DID something wrong-- that caused them to be outcast. at any rate.. it certainly is an amazing find, and fascinating to speculate about!

Although the news article is too brief to know the details, it says that they were "buried" so that implies that the bodies were found in the context of a burial pit or tomb. However, this could be the reporter's term and not the archaeologist's. Why did they die? Why were they buried this way? Who knows, but further analysis will tell us something about their health, injuries, etc.

Are there any significant archaeological sites nearby? reb!! This is Italy! Archaeological sites are at every turn! But I know what you meant. Unfortunately the article does not tell us of the context of the burial other than that it was discovered during construction. It is a possibility that any associated settlement is yet to be discovered. More information will become public once the excavators have a chance to do their work. I tried to do a search for neolithic sites in Mantua (Mantova) Italy but did not get any results other than general mentions that the area was populatd during that period. Supposedly there is a one-room museum in town that has some Neolithic artifacts. So this discovery may be important for providing specifics about the Neolithic period in Northern Italy.

 

[T-Rex]

I'm really hoping that they don't separate them. It bothers me a lot when they dig up graves. As if the passing of time makes it less offensive to disinter them.

 

[reb]

OK cypros- you got me there! (can i get a big 'duh, hello!?)...yes it is italy after all. but i know you meant what i knew you knew i meant.

 

[Cypros]

I'm really hoping that they don't separate them. It bothers me a lot when they dig up graves. As if the passing of time makes it less offensive to disinter them.

I understand and agree with your feelings on this. It is a big issue in archaeology -- the balance of discovery, knowledge about our past, curiosity and respect for the dead. I can pretty much guarantee you that they will not be separated, however, I would bet big money that they will be put on display in a local museum. In this case, they were accidently discovered during construction so there was no intention to dig up a grave. Many modern archaeologists will avoid cemeteries if they know where they are, but there is always the unexpected. I was once working on an excavation of an Iron Age/Assyrian city in Syria, We we interested in uncovering some of the industrial quarters and had found a mudbrick building with several rooms with artifacts related to iron manufacture. What we did not know was that the later Persian period settlers had used this area of the old city (at that time abandoned) for their cemetery when they occupied another part of the site. Dug into the earlier building were a number of tombs. We excavated one -- not knowing at first what it was -- but left the others whose location we could identify alone and filled the trench in when we were done.

 

[Cypros]

OK cypros- you got me there! (can i get a big 'duh, hello!?)...yes it is italy after all. but i know you meant what i knew you knew i meant.

I know what you mean

 

[calus_3]

I think the broad choked him!

I wonder if they were really hugging at death or if a loving family member put them together like that?

Cal

 

[Cypros]

I think the broad choked him!

I wonder if they were really hugging at death or if a loving family member put them together like that?

Cal

If they were "buried" then they were placed like that.

 

[calus_3]

Depends on how they were buried.....

Hey honey, oh no look at that speeding cloud of ash from that volcano heading our way.....

GAHCK WHOCK GAHCK

She knew she was about to die and figured, "Why not".

Cal

 

[reb]

calus-- LOL!! she probably got sick of cleaning up after him!