By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2025-01-11 18:45:05 | Updated at 2025-01-11 20:49:38
2 hours ago
A nearly century-old mystery surrounding a skull thought to belong to Cleopatra’s murdered sister was solved thanks to modern DNA analysis.
Archaeologists exploring a Turkish tomb in 1929 made the gruesome discovery, which they hypothesized could belong to the Queen of Egypt’s half-sister, Arsinoë IV, who was “murdered in Ephesos around 41 (B.C.) at the instigation of Mark Antony, Cleopatra’s lover,” the Austrian Academy of Sciences explained.
The theory was recently debunked after a team of specialists from the University of Vienna led by anthropologist Gerhard Weber used scans, DNA analysis and radiocarbon dating to further examine the skull.
Archaeologists exploring a Turkish tomb in 1929 first made the gruesome discovery. Gerhard Weber, University of Vienna
A team of specialists from the University of Vienna used scans, DNA analysis and radiocarbon dating to further examine the skull. Gerhard Weber, University of Vienna“It was long speculated that it could be the remains of Arsinoë IV, the sister of the famous Cleopatra,” Science News reported.
“However, the latest anthropological analyses show that the remains are those of a boy between the ages of 11 and 14 who suffered from pathological developmental disorder.”
The skull, which dates to between 36 BCE and 205 BCE, suggests the boy was a native of Italy or Sardinia, based on genetics, the report said.
In 1929, Josef Keil and his team were excavating an “Octagon” tomb in Ephesos when they happened upon “a complete skeleton” inside a sarcophagus.
At the time, Keil deemed the remains to be of “a very distinguished person,” who was likely a 20-year-old female, the release continued. Other archaeologists who examined the skulls agreed with his assessment.
Keil transported it to Germany, and then to Austria, where it’s been since.
