Zev Radovan/Deir El-Baron Expedition

Together forever. Touched by the apparent embrace of the two skeletons uncovered in Tomb 118, excavators nicknamed them Romeo and Juliet. The skeleton of the male lies on the left; the female was laid on her side facing him. Their coffin contained the richest set of burial gifts discovered at the site. An Egyptian alabaster goblet in the shape of a lotus blossom, Mycenaean-style terra-cotta pilgrim flasks and a bronze mirror, jug and platter can be seen beside the skeletons.

All of the coffins the excavators discovered contained multiple burials, some with as many as four skeletons of men, women and children inside. Such burials may be the result of an epidemic or the practice of interring a dead man’s family with him. Between the coffins, excavators also found a number of plain burials, where the body was laid directly into the ground.