Bodies of Evidence
Case studies
The Romanovs
Did all the Romanovs die?
In 1991, nine skeletons were found in a shallow grave in Ekaterinburg,
Russia. They were believed to be the remains of the Romanov family –
Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their children – who were
executed by Bolshevik revolutionaries on 17 July 1918, after the Russian
Revolution overthrew the autocracy in the previous year. Since then, there
have been rumours that one or more of the Romanovs had survived the massacre.
The British Forensic Science Service worked with the Russian authorities
to investigate. Using samples of the bones, they performed DNA
analysis and this established that the bodies were a family group.
The forensic team also analysed the mitochondrial
DNA, which is easier to extract from bones and survives for longer
than chromosomal DNA. This can be used to test relationships between individuals
who are several generations apart.
By comparing the DNA of the bodies with the DNA of near relatives of
the Romanovs alive today, scientists concluded that the bodies were indeed
those of the last Tsar and his family.
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The Romanovs
Vladimir Lenin
Taung Child
St Clare
The Inuit Women
Witch burial
Barber surgeon
Slave grave
Turin shroud
The disappeared
Medieval coffins
Java Man
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Hybrid skeleton
Cherchen Man
Body Farm
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Tooth decay
Maronite mummies
Tooth implant
Polynesians
Andes mummies
Lefthandedness
Ice-Age Footprints
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