Unusual Joint Grave Found Near Ancient City in India

News January 9, 2019

(Vasant Shinde)
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India Harappan Joint Burial
(Vasant Shinde)

HARYANA, INDIA—BBC News reports that a 4,500-year-old grave containing the remains of a man and a woman who are estimated to have been in their 30s at their time of death was discovered in a cemetery located outside a large Harappan city site in northern India. “The man and the woman were facing each other in a very intimate way,” said archaeologist Vasant Shinde of Deccan College. “We believe they were a couple.” Joint burials are unusual in this cemetery, Shinde added, so he thinks the man and woman may have died at the same time. However, no lesions or marks on their bones, which would indicate wounds or diseases, have been found. Pottery and semi-precious stone-bead jewelry were also found in the grave. To read about another recent discovery in India, go to “India’s Anonymous Artists.”

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