Roman-era couple held hands for 1,500 years

MSNBC/Discovery ^ | 10-25-11 | Rossella Lorenzi

[SJackson]

Archaeologists believe the pair was buried in a position of mutual adoration

The skeletal remains of a Roman-era couple reveal the pair has been holding hands for 1,500 years.

Italian archaeologists say the man and woman were buried at the same time between the 5th and 6th century A.D. in central-northern Italy. Wearing a bronze ring, the woman is positioned so she appears to be gazing at her male partner.

"We believe that they were originally buried with their faces staring into each other. The position of the man's vertebrae suggests that his head rolled after death," Donato Labate, the director of the excavation at the archaeological superintendency of Emilia-Romagna, told Discovery News.

[Oatka]

Maybe a suicide pact? Took the poison together?

My first thought. If there were no signs of trauma, like broken bones that indicated an accident, then the suicide pact is likely.

In some distant and unrelated way, a scene from "Return of the Living Dead" came to mind, where the warehouse guy asks "How come all these skeletons have perfect teeth?"

[Max in Utah]

My first thought. If there were no signs of trauma, like broken bones that indicated an accident, then the suicide pact is likely.

Or an epidemic. Lots of opportunities to die an early death back then.