Secret Of Ancient Tomb

A skull discovered in Turkey in 1929 was long thought to belong to Arsinoe IV, half-sister of Cleopatra VII. However, new research has shown that the remains belong to a teenage boy with a rare genetic disorder.

In 1929, a skeleton was found in a marble sarcophagus in the Octagon at Ephesus, which housed a massive temple to the ancient Greek goddess of the hunt, Artemis. There were no grave goods or inscriptions, but archaeologists concluded that the burial belonged to an important young woman.

They suggested that the tomb's occupant might be Arsinoe IV, who took up arms against her half-sister and Julius Caesar and led the siege of Alexandria in 48–47 BCE. Arsinoe and her forces lost that battle, and she took refuge in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. In 41 BCE, when she was 22 years old, Mark Antony had Arsinoe executed.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports , says that radiocarbon dating of the remains showed that the man died between 205 and 36 BCE, which is consistent with the historically recorded date of Arsinoe's death. However, based on the stage of development of the skeleton, the man was only 11 to 14 years old - much younger than Arsinoe.

"But then we got a big surprise," admitted lead study author Gerhard Weber, a professor of evolutionary anthropology at the University of Vienna, in a statement. "When re-examined, the skull and femur clearly showed the presence of a Y chromosome - in other words, it was a boy."

Because the skull bones were thinner and more fragile than expected, the researchers continued to study the skeleton and discovered deformations that had not been noticed before. 

One of the cranial sutures — the wavy lines on the skull where individual bones fuse together during life — had already closed, which usually doesn't happen until a person is 65. The early closure of this cranial suture led to the asymmetry of the boy's skull.

More striking, the researchers noted in their study, was the abnormal shape of the man's upper jaw, coupled with at least one tooth that showed no signs of wear. Both of these features suggest that the boy had a damaged upper jaw and possibly a small, malpositioned lower jaw.

According to the researchers, one possible explanation for the skull and jaw features is a rare genetic disorder called Treacher Collins syndrome, which affects the development of the face and head, causing a small jaw, drooping eyelids, and problems with hearing and vision. Although scientists tried to identify the disorder in the teenage boy using genetic analysis, there was not enough DNA left to prove it.

Why a disabled teenager was buried in the famous Octagon in Ephesus remains a mystery.

"We can now say with certainty that the person buried in the Octagon was not Arsinoe IV, and the search for her remains should continue," the study's authors concluded.

- Pravda.ru