A team of archeologists has found two skeletons, a man and a woman, embraced in northern China, in what they interpret as
a message of eternal love sent across a 15-century ocean
.
However, some mysteries remain to be solved, such as the ring she wore on her left hand, and the possible cause of her death.
Scientists believe the remains belong to a couple from
the time of the Northern Wei dynasty
(386-534 AD), when Buddhism was beginning to take hold in China, according to a report on the discovery published in the South China newspaper. Morning Post.
The position of the two skeletons suggests a deep bond: they are lying on their side, and
the woman seems to nuzzle the man's shoulder
.
His arms were wrapped around each other, at waist level.
"The message was clear: husband and wife lay together, embracing each other with eternal love in life after death," the authors wrote in the report published this summer in the scientific journal International Journal of Osteoarcheology.
An unusual find
The analysis of the remains was carried out by a team of 10 scientists from research institutes in China and the United States.
The find took place in 2020 when they
were excavating more than 600 graves
in an open-air cemetery during construction in the city of Datong.
While similar scenes have been found around the world, this is the first time that two skeletons with this hug have been discovered in China.
"Evidence for
the direct materialization of love in burials
(such as the Taj Mahal) has been rare, and even rarer in skeletons," the scientists wrote.
The Taj Mahal was a funerary monument built in India by a Mughal emperor in honor of one of his wives.
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Qun Zhang, a co-author of the study and an anthropologist from Xiamen University, said the remains came from an era marked by the
rise of Buddhism
and beliefs around life after death.
"This discovery
is a unique display of the human emotion of love
at a funeral, offering a rare insight into the concepts of love, life, death and the afterlife in northern China during a time of intense cultural exchange and ethnic, "he wrote in the post.
The mystery of the ring and the cause of death
The woman wore
what appears to be a simple
silver
ring
without ornaments on the ring finger of her left hand.
Rings are common discoveries in archeology, but scientists are reluctant to associate them with a symbol of love or marriage, as they are typically used today.
Qian Wang, a co-author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University, said the simplicity of the ring indicates that it probably
"didn't cost that much
.
"
Researchers emphasize that although the bond was one of love, that
did not necessarily imply a marriage
at that time of antiquity.
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It is unclear who died first, but the man's skeleton bore signs of an unhealed wound, meaning there is a possibility that the woman
died as a sacrifice
to be buried next to him.
However, the researchers did not rule out other possibilities, such as that they died simultaneously from illness or were killed in a conflict and buried in an eternal embrace beyond their death.
