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 THREE – Archaeological, anthropological and radiological data
determined to be between 48 and 52, standing at 180.67 centimetres tall (mid estimate). They observed a sunken, circular area on the lambdoid suture of Béla III, which we later identified as a figurative trepanation. They believed the deformation may have been caused by skin cancer. Anne of Antioch’s anthropological average age was 35 years; her bones showed signs of deficiency and osteoporosis, which they linked to her seven pregnancies. According to x-rays, the possibility of rachitis came up, but this could not be supported by palaeopathological surveys. The bone samples held in the Matthias Church were examined for the fourth time by the Royal Grave Committee (Éry 1999), after the sarcophagus was opened on November 13,1984, under the authority of Dr János Fábián, pronotarian canon. The anthropological remains were transported to the National Museum for further analysis. In their work “ Jegyzőkönyv a székesfehérvári királyi bazilikából származó és a budavári Nagyboldogasszony Főplébánia altemplomában másodlagosan elhelyezett embertani leletek kiemeléséről és visszatemetéséről” [Protocols of the extraction and reburial of the anthropological remains from the royal basilica of Székesfehérvár later sent to the Main Parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Buda Castle] dated April 16, 1986, the Royal Grave Committee notes that the opening of the four copper containers occurred in the presence of the president of the Royal Grave Committee, chief director Dr Ferenc Fülep and his secretary, head of department Dr Alán Kralovánszky (Figure 3). They determined that the first copper container decorated with an isosceles cross contained the skeleton found in 1848 directly adjacent to King Béla III and Queen Anne of Antioch’s grave, which was brought to the Matthias Church in 1862 with its jaw and skull missing by that time, as well as 76
