14 DAY TRIAL // This is an astonishing discovery that could be named "the eternal embrace" or the humanity's oldest doomed love.
Italian archaeologists have found a 5,000 to 6,000 years old buried couple, hugging each other.
The two skeletons from the Neolithic ("The Late Stone Age") locked in a tender embrace were dug at Valdaro, near Mantova, just 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Verona, the romantic city where Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" story took place.
Archaeologists think the couple, almost certainly a man and a woman (but this is still unconfirmed), was young because their teeth were not worn down. "Buried between 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric lovers 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 diggings. "As far as we know, it's unique," said Menotti.
Amongst other hypotheses, scientists believe the man was killed and the woman suffered a rite sacrifice so that to accompany him in the other life. "We have found plenty of women embracing children but never a couple. Much less a couple hugging -- and they really are hugging. It's possible that the man died first and then the woman was killed in sacrifice to accompany his soul."
The burial location was discovered on Monday, during the construction works for a factory, which is going to be built in the vecinity of Valadaro. "Alongside the couple, archaeologists found flint tools, including arrowheads and a knife," Menotti said. "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 said. "But I've never been so moved because this is the discovery of something special."
Laboratory analyses will now determine the individuals' age at the time of death and the age of the fossilized skeletons. A first check of the "Lovers of Valdaro" showed that the man has an arrow head in his column while the woman has an arrow head in her side.
The same area has provided a spectacular Roman villa.
During the Neolithic, this area was a marshland criss-crossed by rivers, a habitat that has preserved the skeletons in their near perfect state.