Reggio Calabria, Calabria
At Romito Cave, I saw a plaster cast. Two skeletons placed together. A woman holding a young man whose body showed severe dwarfism.
A few days later, I drive to the Archaeological Museum in Reggio Calabria to see the remains themselves.
The gallery is quiet. White walls. Soft light. I immediately spot a replica of the cave’s carved stone, the aurochs still visible in the rock. Below, in a glass case, are the skeletal remains. Yellowed bones. Dark earth still clinging to them.
The young man’s head rests against the woman’s shoulder. Her arm curves around him. Not tight. Just there.
His bones are short, compressed. He couldn’t have hunted. Probably couldn’t have fled danger. Someone fed him anyway. Kept him alive.
Someone placed them this way after death. Took the time to position them carefully.
They’re labeled Romito 1 and Romito 2 now. Numbers in a museum case.
I stand there a long time. The stone carving above them. The bones below.
Outside, traffic moves through the city. Inside, her arm still holds him.
