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

due to a lack of osteological evidence of having been blinded at a young age (Éry

2008,

89-91).

According to archaeological data, the grave marked “H” dates back to the first half of the 13 th century, but no adult king was buried at Székesfehérvár

at

that time. This skeleton showed clear signs of DISH (Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis, Forestier disease), but the condition was not specified. The final diagnosis was given by Józsa (2010)

and Józsa

and

Forgács

(2009):

both having studied this condition, they note that this disease was extremely common among monks, as it was essentially an occupational hazard, while it occurred very rarely, if at all, among the general population. If we consider that the northern aisle of the royal basilica of Székesfehérvár,

where

grave “H” was found is - generally speaking - the place where clergymen would be buried in the Middle Ages, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that a high-ranking member of the clergy may have been buried there.

For an easier overview, in Table 3, we display the anthropological age of the skeletons genetically studied as determined by the various working groups at various points in time. Out of these, the anthropological ages of the skeletons labelled II/53_7, II/109_8, II/54_9, II/55_10 are presented only in the monograph by Éry

(2008)

in Table 15/b. The table shows that the anthropological ages given by the various examiners can differ from each other. One difference stands out especially in the case of skeleton II/52_3. At the time of exhumation, János

Érdy determined

the anthropological age of the skeleton from grave 3, later labelled II/52_3, to be above 30 (the skull had not been lost yet). Despite this, the age estimated by Aurél

Török was between 20 and 22 years (the skull had been lost already). This

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