Near century-old mystery of skull thought to be Cleopatra’s murdered sister solved

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 theory was recently debun🎀ked 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.

“It was long speculated that it could be the remains of Arsinoë IV, the sister of the famous Cleopatra,” .

“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 𝐆boy 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 com𝓡plete skeleton” inside a sarcophagus.

At the time, Keil deemed the remains to be of “a very distinguisꦦhed 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.