Original Article Embrace Lasts 5000 years
'Romeo and Juliet' fossils in eternal
embrace
Archaeologists in Italy have discovered a couple buried 5000 to
6000 years ago, hugging each other.
And as if by cosmic design, this fossilised pair was found in
Mantova, only 40 kilometres from Verona the city where
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet carried out their star-crossed
romance.
"It's an extraordinary case," said Elena Menotti, who led the team
on their dig near the northern city of Mantova.
"There has not been a double burial found in the Neolithic period,
much less two people hugging and they really are hugging."
Menotti said she believed the two, almost certainly a man and a
woman although that needs to be confirmed, died young because their
teeth were mostly intact and not worn down.
"I must say that when we discovered it, we all became very excited.
I've been doing this job for 25 years. I've done digs at Pompeii,
all the famous sites," she told Reuters.
"But I've never been so moved because this is the discovery of
something special."
A laboratory will now try to determine the couple's age at the time
of death and how long they had been buried.
