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 NINE – Statistical and genetic investigations for the purpose of personal identification
SUMMARY: Looking at all of the available German and Hungarian A-STR marker data individually instead of in a joint consensus form, and leaving in the PCR data revealed to be incorrect after sequencing, the statistical analysis suggests that skeleton II/52_3 is indeed probably King Béla Ills grandfather, Béla II (the Blind). Based on the A-STR marker data investigated by a total of 15 PCRs and another 5 next generation DNA sequencing analyses, it was possible to determine a male marker genotype of the Árpád Dynasty kings (Table 15). The importance of this lies in the fact that by using this, we can draw realistic conclusions regarding the family relations between the skeletons. All of the alleles of the investigated 16 paternal Y-STR markers were completely identical in King Béla III and skeleton 11/52. The other male skeletons differed in their haplotypes from Béla III, skeleton 11/52 and each other in more than three markers, and this does not suggest a relation with Béla III. At this juncture, we should note that haplogroups Nic and Ria both occur among Finno-Ugric peoples. The ratio of Ria is significantly higher than that of Nic only in the Hungarian and Mordvin peoples. The ratio of Nic is highest in people who lived in relative geographical isolation, e.g. in the Finnish, the Khanty, Lappish and northern Komi, thus in the case of people who are believed to have better preserved the original Finno-Ugric gene pool. The Árpád Dynasty ’s Ria haplogroup is clearly distinct from these, which suggests there is no genetic relation. With the help of the sum of paternal Y-STR markers (haplogroup), the possibility of genealogical and phylogeographical determination opened up. Skeleton II/52_3 and Béla III share the same Ria haplogroup, so both of them 186
