Hasanlu Lovers, Two Dead Bodies Have Been Kissing for 2,800 Years
- Atlas-Geografic
VIVA – Amidst the buried ruins of an ancient village, archaeologists were shocked to find two bodies, which appeared to be a romantic couple until their deaths. The two dead humans looked like they were kissing and became known as the "Hasanlu Lovers". They have been kissing for 2,800 years. Here's the story.
These human remains were unearthed in 1973 at the Teppe Hasanlu archaeological site, located in the Solduz Valley in the West Azerbaijan Province of Iran. The site was burned after a military attack. The “head wound” is actually from modern-day excavators.
According to Penn Museum, as quoted from All that interesting site, around 800 BCE, the settlement of Hasanlu in northwestern Iran was destroyed by an as yet unknown invading force. Inhabitants were slain and left where they fell, and much of the site was burned in a conflagration.
Hasanlu Lovers, Tengkorak berciuman
- All Thats Interisting
The skeletons of the “lovers” were found together in a mudbrick and plaster bin during excavations in 1973. They perished during the destruction of the site; both have some evidence of trauma from around the time of their death, but no definitively fatal wounds (many injuries such as those to soft tissue could leave the skeleton unmarked).
They are facing one another and appear to be in an embrace. The skeleton on the left is reaching out a hand to touch the face of the other individual, and their arms are around one another. The “lovers” were on display at the Penn Museum from the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s.
While many believe these two people were a man and a woman in a romantic relationship, archaeologists say the relationship and gender of the two people are still unclear.
One of the bodies, the recumbent one, was confirmed to be a young man between 18-22 years old. This was determined by the shape of his pelvis and the structure of his teeth. The sex of the other body, which was seen touching its partner, is still in doubt.
Researchers can easily identify his age, which is around 30-35 years old. Meanwhile, the gender or sex is still a mystery because the skeleton has both male and female features,
Given the forensic evidence, it is likely that the second service was also a man. When the evidence first occurred in the 1980s, the media reported that these Hasanlu Lovers were a gay couple. But until now, it is not known what relationship existed between the two.
Some have also said that they were a father and son. Some hypothesize that the older body was the father of the young man. If the skeleton was in fact a woman, then it could be assumed that she was the young man's mother.
