A LONG HUG!

by Dansk 15 Replies latest jw friends

  • Dansk
    Dansk

    This is really interesting: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6338751.stm

    Italy mystery of prehistoric hug
    Embracing skeletons The skeletons' bones were discovered interlaced
    Archaeologists in Italy have unearthed two skeletons thought to be 5,000 to 6,000 years old, locked in an embrace.

    The pair from the Neolithic period were discovered outside Mantua, about 40km (25 miles) south of Verona.

    The pair, almost certainly a man and a woman, are thought to have died young as their teeth were mostly intact, said chief archaeologist Elena Menotti.

    The burial site was discovered on Monday during construction work for a factory building.

    Hugging

    "It's an extraordinary case," said Ms Menotti. "There has not been a double burial found in the Neolithic period, much less two people hugging - and they really are hugging," she told Reuters news agency.

    Flint tools, including arrowheads and a knife, were also found alongside the couple.

    Scientists will now study the skeletons and artefacts to work out how and when the two people died, Ms Menotti said.

    "I must say that when we discovered it, we all became very excited," she said.

    "I've been doing this job for 25 years. I've done digs at Pompeii, all the famous sites, but I've never been so moved because this is the discovery of something special," she said.


  • nicolaou
    nicolaou

    Great story Ian, I heard it on the radio earlier. Mantua is the town of 'Romeo & Juliet' fame.

  • Bumble Bee
    Bumble Bee

    This was in the paper today - the article was a little longer than what was posted on the website.

    Anthropologist Luca Bondioli said the burial "highlights how the relationship people have with each other and with death has not changed much from the period in which humanity first settled in villages."

    Experts might never determine the exact nature of the pair's relationship, but Menotti said she had little doubt it was born of a deep sentiment.

    "It was a very emotional discovery," she said. "From thousands of years ago we feel the strength of this love. Yes, we must call it love."

    I wonder if Shakespear had any idea what lay beneth the soil not far from his famed Verona.

    BB

  • fullofdoubtnow
    fullofdoubtnow

    Thanks for that Ian, we haven't seen the news today, so might have missed this. I guess this means that hugging has been around as long as humanity.

    Linda (who loves a hug herself)

  • UnConfused
    UnConfused

    HUGGING: So easy a caveman can do it!


    (Please don't let the Geico cavemen know I said this)

  • candidlynuts
    candidlynuts

    lol unconfused!!

    i dont think anyone loves me enough to hug me for eternity!

    but there's still time lol

  • choosing life
    choosing life

    Sweet story. Thanks for posting it. Human kindness and loyalty is a beautiful thing and I guess always has been.

    Hi Dansk, how are you feeling? Have not heard too much from you lately. Hope all is well with you and your family. I am sporadic on the board, so maybe I have just missed your posts.

    Sincerely, Choosing Life

  • Madame Quixote
    Madame Quixote

    WOW! Fascinating. I can't wait to hear more of the scientific analysis. It is quite moving. The skulls look very modern, though. I thought Neanderthals looked a bit larger and more apish than those two. Hmmm. I do want to know more. It's a moving site.

    Edit: Well, I guess they aren't that much different - just a bit:

    A modern human child (left) and the Gibraltar 1 Neanderthal child (right)

    Left - a modern child Right - a neanderthal child

    from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1469607.stm

  • SixofNine
    SixofNine

    Even I'm not this curmudgeonly: on another forum, someone commented about this picture that, "they probably died choking each other".

    LOL, happy valentines day everybody. :P~

  • Madame Quixote
    Madame Quixote

    Well, it is a bit of a stretch to assume they were hugging. They could have been arranged that way after death; they could have been sister and brother in the midst of a cataclysm or were strangers freezing to death, doing what creatures do instinctively. Like I said, I look forward to the research.

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