Well ... it is nearly Valentine's Day

[Guest guest]

ROME (Reuters) - Call it the eternal embrace.

 

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.