Archaeologists identify remains of world's oldest human twins

Archaeologists from Canada's University of Saskatchewan and Russia's Irkutsk University have identified what they believe are the remains of the world's oldest-known set of human twins.

The skeletons were exhumed in 1997 in Siberia, but this is the first time anthropologists have identified the remains. The twin fetuses, buried with their mother, were found alongside 15 marmot teeth, which the archaeologists believe were attached to their clothing. The remains are roughly 7,700 years old, and archaeologists believe the twins suffocated during their mother's labor.

Discovery News notes that while death from childbirth was common, it "has rarely been documented" in archaeological records. Angela Lieverse, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Saskatchewan, told Discovery News that the remains of twins "are basically invisible from the archaeological record."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Lieverse, who described the finds in the journal Antiquity, added that there has only been one other case of confirmed human twins in archaeological literature.