The ancient skull long attributed to Cleopatra's younger sister, Arsinoe IV, actually belonged to a teenager of Italian origins – with ancestors from central Italy or, it is thought, Sardinia – who had facial deformities, according to new scientific analyses conducted by researchers at the University of Vienna and published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The study examined the ancient skull discovered in 1929 by an Austrian archaeologist in Turkey, among the ruins of the octagonal mausoleum in the center of the ancient city of Ephesus. The find was immediately attributed to a young woman and further studies in the 1990s led archaeologists to hypothesize that it was Arsinoe IV, Cleopatra's younger and rebellious sister, who was killed in Ephesus.
To test this theory, the team of anthropologist Gerhard Weber of the University of Vienna conducted new morphological, genetic and dating analyses of the skull and some bone samples taken from a femur and a rib from the same grave. The dating confirms that the skeletal remains date to a period between 205 and 36 BC, consistent with the estimated date of Arsinoe's death around 41 BC. However, it is completely excluded that it is her, because the genetic and morphological analyses indicate that the skull belonged to a male individual.
According to the researchers, it was that of a boy between 11 and 14 years of age who suffered from severe developmental disabilities. The skull shows evident defects and functional problems, probably related to conditions such as rickets or Treacher-Collins syndrome (a rare genetic disease characterized by craniofacial deformities). Genetic analyses suggest that the boy had ancestors from central Italy or Sardinia.
Who this young man really was and why he was buried in such a special place remains a mystery. His skull certainly will not provide genetic information useful for finding Cleopatra's tomb.
(Online Union)