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Pune: In a first, archaeologists have discovered a 'couple's grave' in a Harappan cemetery. Researchers from the Deccan College Deemed University in Pune found two skeletons of a young man and a female buried together at the same time. This is the first anthropologically confirmed 'couple's grave', which was found in the Harappan settlement excavated at Rakhigari in Haryana. The bodies were found placed next to each other.

As per reports from TOI, Vasant Shinde, the vice chancellor of Deccan College Deemed University, said, "Other archaeologists claimed it was difficult to estimate the sexes of the individuals, and they may not have been a couple. Other than the contentious Lothal case, none of the joint burials reported from Harappan cemeteries till date has been anthropologically confirmed to be a couple's grave."

He said that a Harappan joint burial which was discovered a few years back at Lothal was believed to be a 'probable' instance of a widow's self-sacrifice owing to the grief over her husband's death.

However, in this case, it was more plausible that no such custom was followed, and that both the individuals died at the same time or almost at the same time.

He further added that pottery and bowls were found in the graves."The pots may have contained food and water for the dead, a custom probably fuelled by the belief that the dead may need them after death."

The skeletons were brought to the laboratory for further examination. "A narrow greater sciatic notch and the absence of a preauricular sulcus is indicative of the male anatomy and a wider greater sciatic notch and the presence of a preauricular sulcus is that of a female. More such features during the analysis helped us determine the sex of each skeleton."

Meanwhile, no evidence of trauma or injury has been found io the skeletons. Their ages at the time of death are estimated to be between 21 and 35 years.

The excavation and analysis were undertaken by the department of archaeology of the Deccan College Deemed University, jointly with the Institute of Forensic Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine.

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