Archaeologists in Italy have dug a pair of human skeletons, their arms still wrapped around each other in an eternal embrace.
Archaeologists unearthed the skeletons dating back to the late Neolithic period outside Mantua, 25 miles south of Verona, the city of Shakespeare’s story of doomed love.
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, because their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archaeologist who led the dig.
Experts will now study the artifacts and the skeletons to determine the burial site’s age and how old the two were when they died, she said. The finds will then go on display at Mantua’s Archaeological Museum.Establishing the cause of death could prove almost impossible, unless they were killed by a debilitating disease, a knife or something else that might have left marks on the bones.
The two bodies, which cuddle closely while facing each other on their sides, were probably buried at the same time, an indication of a possible sudden and tragic death.
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yeah so i have heard that people may think that this is the true Romeo and Juliet what are your opinons on this subject….
wow, when i first saw this image i was thinking these where two people inlove, or closley connected by the way they where placed, although this is a picture of two skeleton’s, it has a freakishly beautiful look to it, looks more like art =]
a wonderful but tragic scene…these two skeletons must be lovers who swear that not even death could tear them apart!!!!
this is amazing and so heart warming. i can just imaging the last words that hung in the air before they fell asleep for the last time, “i love you,” these two are an inspiration to all those who have found or are searching for true love. and definitely an inspiration to me, no matter what the circumstances are that they lived or died under. just the fact that they died in each other’s arms suggests that there is faithfulness to the end…to the very end.
Wow! Researching the play Romeo and Juliet, I decided to google Verona and Mantua and found this image! I heard something about this burial site but never realized in was in Mantua! It is a peculiar coincidence that Shakespeare set his story around those places and that tragic and romantic burial site was found there, too.
this is an amazing picture… it has so much eerie feeling to it. it creeps me out but warms my heart at the same time. which is why it is so eerie. and its close to halloween… which makes it even creepier. romantic death, tragic romance, irony… whatever you call it, it is a beautiful, inspiring, impressive picture.
well its beutiful but painful nice is it really them????
this image is so sweet and so tragic at the same time. you can almost imagen what they would have looked like before thier bodies had decomposed, the position illustrating this desperation to never let go, it’s just so sad….
Sweet yes, but, recent study showed that there was a arrow shaft logged in the spine of the male on the left. The other body had a arrow shaft in the ribs. It is speculated that they were both put to death as a wish of the one, the other may have been a slave lover. Oh and the pelvic area showed that they both may have been male and not male and female. However this conclusion is still under study as the one pelvis was crushed and needs to be reconstructed before a final determination is made here. The dig also turned up lots of artifacts that also are under study. Coins were found that help to date the site, as well as pottery shards, and day to day items. So It will be some time before a conclusion is final on this dig site.
im defenately going to use this for a project on my art class…
its gonna be sweet.
the scene also reminds the of the song “die romantic” by Aiden.
it cant be romeo and juliet because they didnt die together and they didnt die in maunta they died in verona.romeo and juliet is also a made up story.juliet pretended to be dead the n romeo died then juliet killed herself
I want to cry, but I can’t cause there’s someone sitting next to me >.<
I don’t want to die D’: That picture is so sad!!1!!111!!1!!!!
oh my gosh this is totally how i want to be buried! its the best! its so sweet and it shows that love can last forever!
i want to die of sexual intercourse
Sheesh, Dr. G, way to kill the romance. You made me laugh. Thanks for the facts. I know you’re probably right, what with the PhD and all, but I’m not going to lie; I may still cling to the idea that these two died of broken hearts, or a dangerous excess of love, or something else nice and Hallmark-y. I’m a girl.
…very touching and very beautiful!…love beyond death!…
if i die i’d do that with my crush, Estefano!
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if you look closely at the larger skeleton on left (i think this skeleton of the two was the male because of the size comparison to the other) and follow his arm, you can see that his hand is right next to the smaller skeletons face as if touching it before dieing…they died looking into eachothers eyea and embracing eachother…how amazing…<3…the love between these to lasted til the seconded they died.
wow this is the coolest thing since the dinasour bone find i absolutely love it its very romantic
this is way to romantic!!!!
This is so beautiful. It’s sad yes, but beautiful because through out time they have still stayed together. This picutre took my breath away the first time I saw it and it still does. They were very close and probably in love when this happened to them.
This is stunning. I can feel thier love. The thing that I notice the most is the eye contact between them. It is so strong, probably because they didn’t want to look at whay would soon cause their death. I can feel the time that they were in. The whole thing makes me smile. feel the warmth
Is it just me …. does anyone else feel strongly about archaeological environmental issues and ethics ??? To seperate these ‘lovers’ and put them on display in Mantua’s Museum is wrong !! Leave them in eternal peace
I can’t believe it! Is it really them? These two were in love for cry sakes. I can’t hardly believe it?
could it also be possible that they were buried alive, and held each other in their final moments? or would someone really go out of their way to place them in that position? but i guess they could have dies like that first, and then been buried… it also has a strange feel and resemblance to some of the victims that died when mt. vesuvius erupted so many years ago….. smell ya laterz
these were they real and i think if they were real that it is beutiful that they loved aech other that much that they died together
They could have been brother and sister: or if they’re both male they could have been [if they weren't lovers] really good friends comforting each other before death.
29. Roger – November 28, 2008
Archaeology will out. It may be a few years before conclusions can be published. As for the thought they should be reburied I’m not of that opinion. Re-entombing King Tut and sealing off the pyramids is not for me.
Touching…heart breaking… so loving.
My guess is this- they both knew they were going to die, so they went together embracing one another. Perhaps they poisoned themselves to escape some horrific event that awaited them?
@ Dr Robert – so, what if they were GAY lovers who died in battle? Tell me that’s not romantic ^^
I find it sad that no one had already pointed this out, but Romeo and Juliet were fictional characters! These skeletons can’t “really” be them, because they weren’t real people! Hit up your local library and have a librarian explain the difference between fiction and non-fiction.