A long-standing mystery about a skull thought to belong to Queen Cleopatra’s slain sister has been resolved after nearly a century.
In 1929, an Austrian archaeologist and his team unearthed a skull and bones from a water-filled sarcophagus during an exploration of a historical tomb in Turkey.
The archaeologist, Josef Keil, took only the skull from the once-grand ‘Octagon’ site to present to historians, who concluded it was from a 20-year-old woman.
The burial site suggested it belonged to a person of ‘higher aristocracy,’ as the Austrian Academy of Sciences noted, leading to the theory that the remains were of Cleopatra’s half-sister, Arsinoë IV.
Arsinoë was murdered in Ephesos, an ancient Greek city in present-day Turkey, around 41 BC, allegedly at the behest of Mark Anthony, Cleopatra’s lover.
Modern science and technology have now resolved this mystery.
A team of experts from the University of Vienna, led by anthropologist Gerhard Weber, enlisted geneticists, orthodontists, a lab scanner, and DNA analysis to study the skull.
The analysis dated the skull to between 36 and 205 BCE, aligning with the estimated death date of Arsinoë.
However, another skeleton discovered at the Octagon in 1985 matched the DNA of Josef Keil’s skull, proving it was not Arsinoë’s.
Weber stated: “Then came the big surprise: in repeated tests, the skull and femur both clearly showed the presence of a Y chromosome – in other words, a male”, as reported by Science News recently on January 10.
The anthropological study revealed the remains belonged to a boy aged 11 to 14 with growth anomalies, likely due to a vitamin-D deficiency.
The boy was identified as ‘presumably Roman,’ hailing from Italy or Sardinia.
While this finding closes one chapter, it opens another as researchers investigate the boy’s identity and continue searching for Cleopatra’s sister.
Science News mentioned: “What is clear is that the tomb was intended for a person of very high social status.
“In any case, the results of this study open up a wide field for exciting new research.”
Arsinoë had been sent into exile in Ephesus by Cleopatra, who viewed her as a threat before having her executed.
The skull was initially transported by Keil to Germany and then moved to Austria, where it remains today.