The skeletal remains of two lovers, buried together
more than 1,500 years ago
in northern China, have been discovered buried in an eternal embrace, according to a new study
.
The woman, who wore a metal ring on her left ring finger,
may
have sacrificed herself so she could be buried with her husband, investigators said.
While joint burials of men and women are not uncommon in China, this intertwined burial "with two skeletons locked in an embrace with a bold display of love" is the
first of its kind in the country
and may reflect changing attitudes towards love in Chinese society at the time, the researchers wrote in the study,
Science Alert
reports .
"This is the first couple found in a loving embrace, as such, anywhere at any time in China,"
the study's lead researcher, Qian Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine, told
LiveScience
. of Dentistry at Texas A&M.
Discovered in a cemetery
Archaeologists discovered the burial in June 2020 during excavation of a cemetery that had been exposed during construction work in Shanxi province.
The cemetery contained around
600 burials
of the graves and ceramic items found in the cemetery, indicates
Science Alert.
Illustration of the lovers superimposed on a photo of the burial site (Anqi Wang / Qiang Wang).
Because the couple's burial was unique, archaeologists decided not to completely excavate the skeletal remains.
Instead, the team left them intertwined so that the duo could be displayed in a
future museum exhibit.
Archaeologists found
two other couples
buried together in the same cemetery;
But these couples did not hug each other as closely and the women did not wear rings, Wang said.
The partial excavation of the ringed lovers revealed a lot about them, says
Science Alert
.
The man would have been around 162 centimeters tall and had some injuries, including
a broken arm
, part of a missing finger on his right hand and bone spurs on his right leg.
He probably died
between the ages of 29 and 35
, investigators said.
The woman, on the other hand, was quite healthy when she died.
She was approximately
157 cm tall
and only had a few dental problems, including
cavities.
She probably died between the
ages of 35 and 40.
It is possible that the woman wore the ring on her ring finger due to the influence "of the customs of the Western regions and beyond through the Silk Roads and the assimilation of the Xianbei people, reflecting the integration of the culture Chinese and Western," Wang said.
An eternal love
Whoever buried the couple
did so with tender care
.
The man's body was curved towards the woman's and his left arm rested under her body.
His
right arm hugged her,
his hand resting on her waist,
Science Alert
reports .
The woman's body was placed "in a position to be embraced," the researchers wrote in the study.
Her head was looking slightly downward, which meant that her face would have rested on her shoulder.
Her arms hugged his body.
This scene is likely to reflect the couple's dedication in life.
"The message of the burial was clear: husband and wife lived together, embracing each other in eternal love during the afterlife," the researchers wrote in the study.
The team had some ideas about how the pair ended up in the same grave.
It is unlikely that the lovers died at the same time from violence, disease, or poisoning, as there is still no evidence of any of these things.
Perhaps
the husband died first and the woman sacrificed herself
so they could be buried together, the researchers said,
Science Alert indicates.
It is also possible that the woman died first and the husband sacrificed himself;
However, this is less likely, since the woman appears to be in better health than her partner
.
The ring found on the woman's finger (Qian Wang).
During the first millennium, when this couple was alive, the ability to freely express and pursue love in China became culturally "prominent," the researchers said.
There were plenty of fictional love stories and even historical records of people taking their own lives for love.
In essence, pursuing love and dying by suicide for love was
"accepted, if not promoted
," Wang said.
While the circumstances that led to the intimate burial of these lovebirds remain a mystery, their burial is a "unique display of the human emotion of love at a funeral, offering a rare insight into love, life, death and beyond," Wang said.
The study appeared in the
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.
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