Ancient couple excavated in embrace

Valentine’s Day is widely known as a day for letting someone know that she is special. As… Valentine’s Day is widely known as a day for letting someone know that she is special. As popular as the holiday is in current times, recent remains of a prehistoric couple found last week reinforced the meaning of “’til death do us part” even thousands of years ago.

The young man and woman were found in the small town of Mantua, Italy. The pair was found only 25 miles outside of Verona, where William Shakespeare placed his legendary play, “Romeo and Juliet.”

Archeologists announced last week that the embraced couple died more than 5,000 ago, during the Neolithic period.

“This story really piques the imagination, even though they could just be brother and sister,” Kathleen Allen, lecturer in the department of Anthropology at Pitt, said.

The process archeologists must undergo during the excavation of the “Valentine’s Day couple,” as well as in any other archeological dig, is a very intricate one.

“Archeologists perform surveys to try to locate an important archeological site. Sometimes they see evidence of remains from the surface, like ruins or a depression in the land. They also occasionally see pottery, stone or bone before digging,” Allen said

When archeologists need to break through the surface, they normally set-up a grid system around the desired excavation area.

“Since we’re essentially destroying our data, we need to make note of what and where everything was with label units set on the ground,” Allen said.

James B. Richardson III, a professor of anthropology at Pitt, added to the specifics of the grid system.

“We basically use a series of squares on the ground to divide the levels and areas of the excavation. The deeper you go, the older things get,” Richardson added.

Shallow excavations may only have to go about 30 centimeters below ground level, while deeper implanted remains may require digging through a great many feet.

Common tools used during archeological excavations include trowels, shovels, measuring tape and plum-bobs, used as reference points.

In order to compile the evidence of a particular archeological survey, many photographs are taken of the site. Drawn sketches and stratigraphy documenting the sedimentary layers of the excavation are created as well.

To safely remove smaller, more fragile objects like seeds and bones, they use thin screens to essentially sift through the material.

“The size of the excavation crew depends on the job. I usually take around 14 to 20 people. With a larger dig, there can be several archeologists at the same time, each with their own workers,” Allen said.

These workers are often archeological students doing a field study. Upon completion of their first dig, the majority of students are then able to work on future digs for pay.

Richardson commented on the intertwined 5,000 year old couple found in Italy.

“This pair isn’t the first prehistoric couple found. There was a similar couple found in Ecuador a little while ago. There’s been quite a few found around the world,” Richardson said.