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
from the excavations of Érdy in 1848, skeletons from the excavations by Henszlmann between 1862 and 1874 were also put into additional copper caskets in the crypt. This means that the skeletons were from all over the area of the Church. Érdy s and Henszlmanns excavations could not have become mixed up during the processing, since the remains from 1848 were brought to the Matthias Church before Henszlmanns excavations (on July 10, 1862 and September 15 - November 12,1862). The proceedings that occurred afterwards were summarized by Biczó (2016) as follows: Henszlmann only took and returned to the city the skeletons which he deemed to be important (royal). In 1893, Aurél Török wanted to have the skeletons examined, as he theorized that the female skeleton found in the fourth grave and the fetus may have been Béla Ill ’s grandchild. By that time, however, some of the remains had been lost and mixed up. Some of the skeletons from the crypt were preserved despite the losses. The medical examination of 1862 in Székesfehérvár was conducted on three skeletons buried next to each other in the southern aisle. One of the graves contained the skeleton said to be 50 years old by the doctors at Fehérvár (later labelled 11/109). In spite of Henszlmanns opinion about the royal nature of the grave, its depth suggests that it was from the late Middle Ages. The round bronze buckle found next to him could be from the Árpád era, but the drawing suggests that the grave goods described by Henszlmann as a little hook and a little ring may have had a French connection (Henszlmann 1864, 197-198). In this scenario, the grave could not be from before the 14th century. The grave goods could neither confirm nor disprove that a royal person had been buried there. The two men found south of the womans grave were 8-12 inches (21-31 cm) deeper than the previous 71
