|
Combining history, anthropology and modern forensics, scientists have confirmed that damaged skeletons buried in a shallow mass grave in the Ural Mountains of Russia belonged to the Romanov family, the last monarchs of Russia.
History and forensic science were combined recently in a captivating lecture delivered by Dr. Zoran Budimlija in Rehoboth Beach. Budimlija explained how modern forensic science helped solve the mystery of what happened to the Romanovs, the last czar of Russia and his family.
Czar Nicholas II ruled Russia from 1894 until March 1917 when he was forced to abdicate. He and his family were kept under house arrest at the hands of the Bolsheviks. The royal family was moved around the country in order to keep them away from would-be rescuers. They ended up in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. On July 17, 1918, the family and its small entourage were woken early in the morning and taken to the basement of the house in which they were kept, where they were all shot multiple times at close range.
Budimlija told his audience that historians and archaeologists have been able to use the memoirs of revolutionaries close to the event to understand the events surrounding the massacre of the royal family. The bodies were dropped into a mine shaft and hand grenades were thrown in as well to mutilate the bodies. As the White Army approached the Ural Mountains, the Bolsheviks decided to better hide the remains. The bodies of Alexei and either Anastasia or Maria were burned. The others were doused with sulfuric acid and buried.
In July 1991, skeletons were found outside of Yekaterinburg. Budimlija explained to the audience, using pictures of the skeletons and copies of DNA reports, how the bodies were finally conclusively identified. Anthropologists used photographs of the family and compared the skull structure to the bones found and in that way were able to make strong assumptions of to which person each skull belonged. Scientists believed they had the skeletons of the tsar and his wife and three of their daughters as well as members of the family’s entourage. “It is pretty gross,” Budimlija said of the pictures of damaged skulls, “but this is why you came here today.”
Alexandra was known to have had dental problems. A forensic dentist studied her skull and produced a detailed report on all the teeth, including the extensive dental work done in gold, platinum, and ivory. The dental work helped to confirm that the skull belonged to the tsarina, in part, because one could not expect a person of less than royal status to have had such extensive work in such expensive material done.
“Anthropology is not certain. You need DNA,” Budimlija said. Using copies of the original DNA sheets, he explained a few of the key parts of the family’s DNA sequences that positively identified each member. Mitochondrial DNA, passed through the maternal line, was a key part of the process used to confirm that the skeletons did indeed belong to the Romanov family. Maternal relatives of the czar and of his wife, Romanovs
Continued from page 16
Czarina Alexandra, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, donated samples to scientists. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, provided DNA that confirmed the identity of the czarina. The czar was identified thanks in part to the DNA of his sister’s descendants. Scientists discovered in their attempt to identify Nicholas II that he had a genetic mutation called heteroplasmy. Because of that unexpected development, DNA from his brother Georgij, whose body was exhumed for the test, was used to confirm. Georgij also had heteroplasmy.
As part of Budimlija’s presentation, he showed how fraudulent impersonators of the royal family, namely of Anastasia and of a man who claimed to be a descendant of Alexei, had been disproved. Their DNA has been compared to that of members of the Romanov family and no similarities have been found.
In August 2007 a team of amateur archaeologists found a pair of skeletons in the Ural Mountains and have claimed that they are the remains of Anastasia and Alexei. DNA tests are currently under way to confirm or refute those claims.
The lecture was hosted by the Wooden Indian, which was simultaneously holding a Fabergé trunk show at its store on Baltimore Avenue.
Peter Carl Fabergé was a Russian jeweler who as part of his business created the famous Fabergé eggs for the Russian royal family. Budimlija highlighted Fabergé’s Red Cross Egg, created in honor of the female members of the Russian royal family who served as nurses in World War I. Budimlija is a professor of forensic science at Pace University.
Contact Leah Hoenen at leah@capegazette.com
|
