Eternal embrace? Couple
still hugging 5,000 years on
ROME (Reuters)

Archaeologists in Italy have discovered a couple buried 5,000 to
6,000 years ago, hugging each other. "It's an extraordinary case," said Elena
Menotti, who led the team on their dig near the northern city of
Mantova. "There has not been a double burial found in the Neolithic period,
much less two people hugging -- and they really are hugging." Menotti said
she believed the two, almost certainly a man and a woman although that needs to
be confirmed, died young because their teeth were mostly intact and not worn
down. "I must say that when we discovered it, we all became very excited.
I've been doing this job for 25 years. I've done digs at Pompeii, all the famous
sites," she told Reuters. "But I've never been so moved because this is the
discovery of something special." A laboratory will now try to determine the
couple's age at the time of death and how long they had been
buried.