2025-08-21
10 分钟The Economist. Hi there, it's Jason Palmer here,
co-host of The Intelligence, our daily news and current affairs podcast.
This is Editor's Picks.
You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist read aloud.
Enjoy.
Was he her lover?
The two skeletons, male and female, were clearly physically close when they died.
She on a bed, he on the floor.
Archaeology offers other hints.
She seems to have been richer, or at least was carrying gold.
They spent their last hours together.
Debris trapped them in the room.
Those hours were terrible.
He, his injuries show, died first.
Archaeology offers one final clue.
Their ages.
she was in her thirties or forties, he in his teens or early twenties.
Perhaps they were lovers, or mother and child, or total strangers.
Even at the distance of two thousand years,
you find yourself hoping she did not watch her own son die.