Till death do us part: are the fates of lovers intertwined forever? A study published by Chinese (from the Datong Institute of Archaeology, Jilin University and Xiamen University) and American scientists in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology examines the evidence and the implications of a single “lovers’ tomb” found during the summer 2020 dig season in Datong, Shanxi Province, North China. Xinhua Net News reported that the complete skeletal remains of a couple embracing in a single grave have been found and that the woman was wearing a ring on her ring finger. Lovers’ tombs or couple double burials are quite rare, and this was the first one ever found in North China.
Lovers’ Tomb Couple Lived in the Northern Wei Dynasty Period
This poetic scene of an ancient Chinese couple’s heart wrenching and tragic end was discovered in 2020 during an excavation of over 600 tombs at a cemetery in North China , as part of preservation work before a construction project. Dated to around 1,600 years old, scientists estimate that the couple lived during the heyday of the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534 AD), which ruled over modern-day northern and central China.
