Miklós Kásler - Zoltán Szentirmay (szerk.): Identifying the Árpád Dynasty Skeletons Interred in the Matthias Church. Applying data from historical, archaeological, anthropological, radiological, morphological, radiocarbon dating and genetic research (Budapest, 2021)

CHAPTER SEVEN – Genetic investigations

11/52 skeleton.

This observation confirms that there was no skeleton swap, and thus further A-STR and Y-STR studies were conducted on the original skeletons. In Varsányi

s

drawing (Figure 13) skeleton II/52_3 is shown as though one of its leg bones was broken, but this cannot be seen on the skeleton II/52_3 that is interred in the Matthias Church. Therefore, the drawing is inaccurate and unable to serve as proof that the skeletons were swapped.

The question arises: Why is tarsus-1 more suitable than the femur for the investigation of family relations by A-STR markers? The bone structure of the femur cortex is wider and more compact than that of the tarsus, and thus the DNA isolating process from it is modified. Decalcination takes more time, which in turn could lead to further DNA fragmentation, and possibly the DNA also fragmented further during the subsequent isolation steps, and thus fewer DNA strands suitable as a PCR template remained.

7. Determining the A-STR markers and gender of the skeletons in the Göttingen

and

Budapest-1 laboratories

In May 2014, ten Árpád-age

bone

samples arrived from the Matthias Church in Budapest at the Historical Anthropology and Human Ecology laboratory of the Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Institute for Zoology and Anthropology at the University of Göttingen for

researchers Verena Seidenberg

and

Susanne Hummel, along with the request to isolate DNA from the samples of a quality suitable for next generation sequencing. They optimized the method of DNA isolation. The investigation results for the A-STR marker are presented in Figures 8.1 and 8.2, as well as Figures 9.1 and 9.2.

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