The mystery of the supposed skull of Cleopatra’s sister solved after almost 100 years of speculation | El Norte Newspaper
It was discovered in 1929. It has long been suspected that it belonged to Arsinoe IV, who is believed to have been murdered at the instigation of Mark Antony.
Austrian experts have solved the mystery surrounding a skull suspected to have belonged to Arsinoe IV, sister of the famous Egyptian queen Cleopatra. After almost 100 years of speculation, anthropologist Gerhard Weber of the University of Vienna, together with a multidisciplinary team of geneticists, dating specialists, orthodontists and archaeologists, examined the bone remains in more detail and came to a conclusion.
According to details from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OAW, for its acronym in German), which participated in the study, the skull, discovered in 1929 in a sarcophagus in Ephesus (Turkey) in good condition, was first subjected to a micro-CT scan to obtain a digital copy and archive it. Small samples were then taken from its base and inner ear to determine its age and genetic status.
As a result, it was determined that it dates back to the years between 36 and 205 BC. C., which corresponds well with the recorded date of the death of Arsinoe IV. A 1990 hypothesis suggests that the queen was murdered in Ephesus at the instigation of Mark Antony, Cleopatra’s lover, and possibly buried in the Octagon burial chamber, where Austrian archaeologist Josef Keil discovered the skull.
big surprise
At the same time, the genetic information on the bone box matched that of a femur later found in the anteroom of the Octagon. However, the course of assumptions that these were the remains of Arsinoe suddenly changed after an unexpected revelation of the genome. “Then came the big surprise: in repeated experiments, both the skull and the femur clearly showed the presence of a Y chromosome, that is, of a man,” comments Weber.
Subsequent morphological analyzes and microtomography data revealed that both bone samples would have belonged to a boy in puberty, between 11 and 14 years old. In addition, it was determined that the minor had developmental pathologies, judging by one of his cranial sutures, which was closed and, generally, does not fuse until he is 65 years old. What caught the researchers’ attention the most were the growth anomalies of his jaws and face. The details of these and other conclusions are found in a study published in the journal Nature.
“It is now clear that it was not Cleopatra’s sister who was buried in the Octagon of Ephesus, but a young man with developmental disabilities who was probably Roman,” the OAW notes. However, the findings open the door to new questions about the social origin and fate of the child, as well as the reason for the “architectural references to Egypt” in the Octagon’s domed burial chamber, which appears to have been intended for a person of very high social status.
“In any case, the results of the present study open a wide field for new and exciting research. And the search for the remains of Arsinoe IV can now resume, free of rumors,” the Academy concluded.
