Wow!
Is this not the most stunning thing you’ve ever seen?
As you may have heard, archaeologists recently discovered this late Neolithic double-burial. According to the news reports, double-burials from that time period were rare. Huggers, non-existent. Archaeologists are removing them all in one piece to preserve their position, and hope to learn something new about Stone Age society in the process.
Well, you know me. I’ve been a paleoanthropology buff ever since I read Clan of the Cave Bear as a teenager. As you can imagine, I’m a little bit excited about this find. “Steve, Steve, Steve! C’mere, you have to see this,” I shouted, waving and flapping the newspaper at him.
Steve took a look. He was silent for a moment, and then he said softly, “They should just cover them right back up.”
15 Comments
I know how he feels. It looks so intimate, like something we should not be a part of.
Steve obviously terribly sweet!
It’s incredible that they were buried this way. It really brings tears to my eyes. I mean, is anyone even buried this way at any other time point in history?
(of course the cynic in me almost immediately went to, “I hope this isn’t a hoax!”)
Yeah it is really amazing from an intellectual standpoint, but it somehow feels wrong to me to look at that picture…
That is just so beautiful. Holy cow.
Wow! I didn’t see this one in the news. It is amazing. I know what you mean about Clan of the Cave Bear, it made me interested in that whole deal too… it’s a dilemma for me, because I am so fascinated by it, but also believe that we should start leaving things as we find them (having made such a mess so far, and living in a country where so many of the indigenous burial relics have been appropriated, and the descendants feel very strongly about that!) So, yeah…sorry inarticulate - tired.
Julie, you might like reading the comments here: anthropology.net blurb
Once they’re uncovered, though, they really have to be excavated. You can’t put the soil back in the same way it was (preserving them) without probable damage to the remains. Besides, I want to know their age, sex, and cause of death (if possible). You can’t really even guess if the burial is as romantic as it appears without knowing that.
It is fascinating. I think it’s actually more romantic than the picture that your husband felt that way about it. Lucky woman!
Wow, what a find. I have to agree with Sandy D., though, I really want to know more. I haven’t read anything about it yet. Have you read Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything? There’s a good bit of really fascinating paleoanthropolgy in it, but it might be stuff you already know.
Just wanted to say I love your blog.
When I was cycling through New Zealand, I took shelter during a thunderstorm at a gas station near Lake Taupo. Laura, a Maori girl of about eight or ten came over and struck up a conversation. (I soon learned that she was enlisting me as a pen pal, asking me to send postcards from any interesting places I might visit in the future.) In our conversation, she decided to educate me about Maori customs. One thing that is “tapu,” she explained, is removing things from graves. I told her that would be tapu where I come from, too. Perhaps this archaeological intrusion into this intimate burial scene may put the lie to my reassurance to Laura during that thundering downpour. . . .
That is truly amazing. I’m almost embarrassed to look at the picture, though. It feels as though I’m intruding on something too precious for words.
I love this. So beautiful. It has made me stop short today and consider how wonderful life is.
Hey Julie, just dropping by to say hi. Hope all is well with you.
Yeah, I’ve missed you. Waiting for your next post…
Just great blog! And your layout/template is beautiful, too. I found you through BookLust and I am glad I did!
If you have time, take a look on my place. I am journalist and writer. I am from São Paulo, Brazil.
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