Researchers Stunned After Skull Believed to Have Belonged to Queen Cleopatra's Sister Was of a 20-Year-Old Male

German excavator, Dr. Josef Keil, discovered one skull together with some remains of the skeleton in the imposing mausoleum of Octagon in 1929, placed on an ancient site named Ephesus in the state of Turkey today, according to The Daily Mail. The archaeologist originally dated that skull as a 20-year-old noblewoman and considered her possibly to be Arsinoe IV, a younger half-sister of Cleopatra VII. That gave birth to close to a century of intrigue connecting those remains with the ruling family of Egypt. But modern research shockingly discovered that the remains belonged to a young teenage boy.

A recent study, by the University of Vienna, used several modern methods, including DNA analysis, morphological investigation, and carbon-14 dating to re-analyze the remains. The scientists decided that the individual was a male aged 11 to 14 at the time of death. They also noticed developmental defects like a weakly developed upper jaw and an asymmetric skull. These observations have all but discarded the earlier held belief that the remains were related to the ancestry of Cleopatra. "In repeated tests, the skull and femur clearly showed the presence of a Y chromosome, conclusively proving the individual was male," said Gerhard Weber, the lead researcher in the study, according to Unilad. 

Adding to the mystery is the boy’s origin. Genetic testing indicated he likely originally came from Italy or Sardinia but not from Ephesus or its environs, as per The Jerusalem Post. He was entombed in such an elaborate mausoleum, but there is simply no evidence that he held any real wealth or prestige. Scientists were completely baffled as to why he was buried in the Octagon because such a structure was reserved for people of great importance. "Why this 11-14-year-old boy suffering from significant developmental disturbances was buried in such a prominent building within the Ephesos urban area also remains unexplained for the moment," the study said in Scientific Reports.

For decades, the skeleton had been presumed to belong to Arsinoe IV, who met a tragic end in 41 B.C. The political intrigues of Cleopatra resulted in Mark Antony's execution of her sister in Ephesus, hence turning Arsinoe into an important figure in the dramatic Ptolemaic dynasty. For decades, the theory of Arsinoe being buried in the Octagon attracted momentum, resulting in speculation as well as historical debate. But new evidence seals that chapter firmly by demonstrating that the skeleton is not related to Arsinoe IV. The ornate design and history of the Octagon make it an interesting archaeological find, but the remains of the boy buried beneath it add another layer of intrigue to it. Indeed, the strontium isotope studies may answer some of the other questions, whether he was a local or not, but most of them still hang in the air.