Archaeologists find 4,000-year-old remains of a mother embracing her child at China's 'Pompeii of the East'
Archaeologists unearthed proof of a mother's love in Qinghai province, China, when they discovered the 4,000-year-old skeletons of a mother and child still locked in a dying embrace. The two skeletons are frozen in time, preserved in the stance they took in their final moments before an earthquake wiped out China's "Pompeii of the East" around 2,000 BC. The mother's arms are draped around her son in what archaeologists believe to be both an embrace and an attempt to protect her son as catastrophe hit.
While experts still do not know much about the scale of the disaster, they believe that the disaster may have wiped out an entire settlement, prompting comparisons to Pompeii. However, the site of the earthquake, Lajia, predates the Roman disaster site by more than 2,000 years.
Join 350,000+ subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.