Archaeologists stumbled upon two Romanian skeletons of a couple holding hands in a grave while excavating a burial ground in Cluj-Napoca.
The discovery, reminiscent of the literary couple Romeo and Juliet, has been given the namesake of the Shakespeare tragedy that ultimately ended in death for the star-crossed lovers.
"The man appears to have died in an accident, as the sternum was broken by a blow from a blunt object," said excavation leader Adrian Rusu, adding that an explanation for the women's death could not be determined. But the archaeologist said that she may have fallen victim to either a heart attack or stroke.
"It's a strange case, a sort of Romeo and Juliet," he said in an interview with Romanian Insider.
The couple was reportedly found in the courtyard of a music school, according to the Romanian newspaper Adevarul.
Rusu said that the couple, thought to have lived between 1450 and 1550, was found "facing each other and holding hands" in the double burial that is considered rare for its time.
"It is a mystery-and rare for such burials at the time," Rusu said.
And although the story of Romeo and Juliet famously ends in a double suicide, it is highly unlikely that the couple in the latest discovery participated in such an act as they would not have been able to be buried in a religious cemetery.
"We can see that the man had suffered a severe injury that left him with a broken hip from which he probably died. We believe the injury was caused after he was hit by something very blunt and hard," Rusu said.
"They were obviously buried together as a tribute to the love they had for each other," Rusu said.