Archaeologists from Valdaro, Italy, have unearthed a pair of skeletons — a couple who died young, and have been hugging for the last five thousand years. Take that, Andrew Marvell!
Commentators were unsure of many of the basic facts about the Neolithic couple — whether they died simultaneously or one followed the other, whether it was a sudden accident or a ritual sacrifice, or even whether they are man and woman or a same-sex couple.
Opinion is unanimous, however, that they are awfully cute.
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Cosmic Variance is a group blog by people who, coincidentally or not, all happen to be physicists and astrophysicists:
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February 12th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Ha, Sean, you just barely beat me to it! Great minds obviously think alike. This photo just plain makes me smile.
February 12th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
D’awwwwwwwwwwwwww! ^_^
February 12th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
…Piles of bones are cute?
Isn’t that a little morbid?
February 12th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
nah its not morbid. we can all make the proper connections in our brain to get past the simple fact that their bones, and move on to the hopleslly romantic ideal that this is a couple who died in a loving embrace, possibly even having just recently smooched
February 12th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I’m now actively lobbying to use this pic on our wedding invitations. It’s so deliciously Jacobean…
February 12th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
My fiancee wants to give my mother a heart attack.
February 12th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Jennifer,
I’m totally taking you to PaperSource. You shall have these invitations. Yes. You must.
Or, you know, maybe for your shower?
February 12th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
You could even make the, pop-up invitations! That’s physics, right?
Seriously! And then get married on Halloween. Hooray!
Okay, I’ll stop.
But you should totally think about it!
I’m stopping now.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:49 am
That pic would make one heck of a Valentine’s Day card!
February 13th, 2007 at 10:43 am
That grave’s not so private, either
February 13th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
I don’t find them cute. This poignant image seems to capture the last moments, which might well have been unspeakably painful, in the lives of two human beings. I’m surprised by the lack of imagination and ghoulish insensitivity of several posts.
February 13th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
What? Too soon?
February 13th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Shall we take a vote? I vote for “cute.”
February 13th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Not obvious this is cute .. Reminds me less of Marvell and more of Mr W.S.
“Seal with a righteous kiss… a dateless bargain to engrossing death”
February 13th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
We don’t exactly know what the facts are, but this is the blogosphere, so cute all the way!
February 13th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
More than cute: I think they’re beautiful. The hint of possible tragedy makes it all the more poignant. It’s been 5000 years, I any suffering they might have endured is long past, and what’s left is this moving image….
February 13th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
I alway thought the vows went “Til death do us part”
February 13th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
I like Jennifer’s interpretation.
I just learned the “Til death do us part” is also a promise Swans try to keep:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan
February 13th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
If it’s a young man and a woman, and one would not leave the other, it’s a very romantic notion. If they died in some ritual sacrifice or horrible killing, they (whether they are of the same gender or not) died clinging to each other in fear and not alone. If whatever happened was borne of hatred, then it is ironic they should remain together in such a way for so long. Wondering what their story was is interesting.
But sure, the way they seem like they are smiling at each other, they are cute. It’s a very touching picture any way you look at it.
Chinmaya, I remember a special on TV that showed a swan who had lost its mate – oh, I was bawling by the end of the program. Swans really mourn.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
I’m with Jennifer all the way. On both the interpretation and the invitations.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Imagine that it’s 5000 years ago. Two dead. The tribe has a choice. They can leave the bodies lying around and then kick their dogs when they bring back pieces, or they can bury them. Not surprisingly, they decide on a burial.
Suppose you’re the low man on the totem pole, so you’re the one that has to do the hard work. Do you dig two holes to give them a Christian burial 3000 years before Christ? Or do you economize by digging one slightly larger hole? What kind of tool are you going to use to dig that hole? Sears and Roebuck won’t sell you a spade.
One of the advantages of modern times is that we use machines to dig our graves. That’s why we don’t have to fold your legs in order to cram you into a hole that is too small for one, much less two. (Take another good look at that picture and imagine the calluses you would end up with from digging a full size grave with a stick.)
The chance that this pair are a “same sex” couple is in excess of 50% as there are many human activities that can result in more than one death at a time, and some of these are correlated by sex. Don’t be surprised when it turns out that these were two young warriors that died in the same battle.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Oh, and happy Valentine’s Day!
February 14th, 2007 at 8:29 am
[...] None, I Think, Do There Embrace Cosmic Variance [...]
February 14th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Marvell or no Marvell, this grave’s no longer a fine and private place.
February 15th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
[...] A 5000 year hug – cute or morbid, you decide [...]
April 30th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
[...] In response to Andrew Marvell, of course. Both poems are pretty good, so I’m reluctant to take sides. Except: Annie Finch has a blog! Does Andrew Marvell have a blog? Not to my knowledge, no. So Finch wins this round. [...]
May 1st, 2007 at 7:30 am
[...] …Fundet pÃ¥ mit højtelskede cosmicvariance.com [...]
October 27th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
HUGGGGGGG !!!! xD
March 29th, 2009 at 9:36 am
this is sooo cute were they actually buried like that or have two been placed side by side and they have fallen to the side.. however still cute though..