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 TEN – Unique identification of the skeletons
SUMMARY: The radiocarbon dating conducted on person II/52_3’s skeleton, the Y-STR surveys, the shared mutations shown through DNA sequence analysis, the statistical analysis and the mitochondrial DNA investigation all suggest that this person is indeed Béla II (the Blind). We believe that person 11/53 is a high-ranking person of Byzantine origin. Person 11/54 is not related to the Árpáds, but his ethnic group is from the population of Northern Poland. Based on these, the outlines of an early Hungarian-Polish connection seem to emerge between the two populations. We know little about highranking persons 11/55 and 1/3 G5; they came to Hungary with an unknown purpose. The person labelled 1/4 H6 came from the west as a high-ranking clergyman, probably sent by the Pope. The mtDNA HVR 1/2 genetic investigation of the fetus’ skeleton showed that the fetus could not have been Béla Ill ’s grandchild (the child of one of his daughters), as previously postulated, since the mitochondrial DNA of the fetus differs from the mtDNA pattern of Béla III and Anne of Antioch. The maternal alleles of the fetus’ A-STR markers are identical in a ratio of 13/15 to the maternal alleles of skeleton II/ 52_3, while its mtDNA haplogroup matches with Predslava of Kiev’s mitochondrial haplogroup. This is only possible if the fetus’ mother is Predslava of Kiev, and the fetus is the sibling of Béla II (see Figure 44). The 16294T SNV can be found not only in the fetus, but in skeleton 11/52 (Béla II) as well, which is further proof that the fetus is indeed Béla Il ’s sibling. 205
