The interesting thing about these 5,000-year-old lovers is that they were found in Verona, the setting of Shakespeare’s famous love play, Romeo and Juliet.
Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but a recent discovery proves that love really is timeless. Archaeologists in Southern Greece recently uncovered a pair of skeletons, a man and a woman, seemingly locked in an eternal embrace. It may be the oldest embrace in Grecian history, but several similar hugging skeletons have been found around the world, all from different eras.
The ancient bodies of this couple from 5,800 years ago were found near the Alepotrypa Cave in Greece. Archaeologists surmise the couple were in there 20’s and died in each other’s arms.
This couple found in Turkey were engaged in the oldest known embrace in the world, dating back to 6100 B.C. Experts believe these two were part of the ancient Hassunan and could have been executed for a crime of passion.
Several of these skeletons were found in Siberia, seemingly in an embrace. However, experts are not so sure this is love. It could actually be a brutal sacrificial ceremony, where a man was buried with a younger woman to satisfy him in the afterlife.
I sincerely hope the Siberian couples aren’t part a creepy mass burial situation. Either way, it’s interesting that, even during thousands of years ago, humans have always had a strange obsession with love and death. I wonder if we’ll ever find out more about these embracing couples.