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
as many skeletons stored in the Matthias Church as possible with the use of Béla III and Queen Anne of Antioch’s genetic marker patterns. Our goals included the identification of the Árpád lineage as well. We did not wish to study the relics either from scientific or pious reasons. Instead, we wanted to bring the historical, archaeological and anthropological data we had collected, along with radiocarbon dating and morphological analysis of the bone structure in accordance with the genetic data, so that jointly they could help us with the planned identification of the unknown skeletons. SUMMARY: The graves found within the walls of the Royal Basilica of Székesfehérvár and previously believed to have been from the Árpád age were hard to locate after the fact, and identifying the skeletons found within also proved to be difficult. For example, the skeletons extracted from the graves underwent six different anthropological studies before arriving at their final resting places, the two sarcophagi of the Matthias Church. Also problematic was the fact that the subsequent anthropological studies were not contrasted with the earlier data. Breaking from traditional practice, we compiled the various ages of each skeleton that were given at various points in time in a table, so we could thus check the accuracy of the anthropological dating. We encountered two cases where the dating showed a higherthan-average dispersion; we explained this with the severe postmortem damage the bones had sustained. The skeletons of Béla III and Queen Anne of Antioch were recovered from the only untouched grave, and their identities were accepted by science to this day. In the recent past however, archaeologist Endre Tóth 89
