Archaeologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a mother cradling a baby in Taiwan, museum officials said Tuesday. The pair have held each other for 4,800 years.
“When it was unearthed, all of the archaeologists and staff members were shocked,” said Chu Whei-lee, a curator at Taiwan’s National Museum of Natural Science, according to Reuters. “Why? Because the mother was looking down at the baby in her hands.”
The mother and child were found during the excavation of 48 sets of remains from graves near the central city of Taichung. The fossils are believed to be the earliest evidence of human activity in central Taiwan.
[Reuters]
More Must-Read Stories From TIME
- The Fall of Roe and the Failure of the Feminist Industrial Complex
- The Ocean Is Climate Change’s First Victim and Last Resort
- Column: 6 Proven Ways to Reduce Gun Violence
- Ads Are Officially Coming to Netflix. Here's What That Means for You
- Jenny Slate on the Unifying Power of a Well-Heeled Shell Named Marcel
- Column: The FDA's Juul Ban May Not be a Pure Public Health Triumph
- What the Supreme Court’s Abortion Decision Means for Your State
Read More From TIME
