Discovering the Buried Secrets of Royal Figures

By using advanced technology, the impossible has been achieved by forensic scientists. Archeologists around the world have uncovered skeletons of royal figures, including Napoleon Bonaparte and King Richard III, and other famous leaders. Such discoveries not only expand the knowledge of ancient history, but also the untold demise of these legendary figures. Let’s explore some of the most recent, unique cases of identification and the methods used in the process.

Louis XVI

Using a rag rumored to have been dipped in the blood of Francfe’s beheaded monarch, Spanish and French scientists authenticated the history of the sample by linking DNA. The rag, which had been sealed in a vegetable gourd, was also connected to the mummified skull of Henri IV, Louis’ predecessor. The similar biological signature ultimately validated both remains.

Henri IV

Famous for his campaign of religious tolerance, Henri IV was assassinated at 56 years old. Later, his tomb was defiled by rebellious mobs during the revolution in northern Paris. They raided the royal chapel at Saint-Denis, piling the deceased into a pit. One individual, however, saved the head of King Henri IV. The head was later authenticated in 2010 by using 16th-centruy portraits, 3D scanning, X-rays, and radiocarbon dating.

Louis XVII

In 2000, a mummified heart sealed in a glass urn was revealed to be the son of Louis XVI and his wife, Marie-Antoinette. Unfortunately, Louis XVII died in prison during the French Revolution, although a doctor escaped the jail with the boy’s heart. Philippe Charlier, a renowned pathologist in France, used genetic tools to validate the heart’s owner. Conducting a DNA match of Marie-Antoinette’s hair, her two sisters, and two legal DNA test samples of the sisters’ living relatives further supported the evidence.

Ramses III

According to hieroglyphs in Egypt, the wife and son of Ramses III were convicted of plotting Egypt’s last pharaoh. Supposedly, his throat was slit at the pique of battle, although this myth was not debunked until December 2012. Computed tomography (CT) imaging exposed Ramses’ slashed trachea and arteries. Obviously, his death was gruesome.

Napoleon

Until 2007, French historians had believed Bonaparte’s death was the result of poisoning. However, after the emperor’s death, a doctor’s autopsy in 1821 revealed that he had died of stomach cancer induced by an ulcer. Though Napoleon was legendary, the cause of his death was quite ordinary.

Joan of Arc

Validated in 1909 by a papal commission, the remains of France’s honored saint was later revealed to be bones from an Egyptian mummy and cat by no other than Philippe Charlier. He entitled the help of leading smell experts to identify smells of the body. Among other scents, they smelled vanilla, commonly produced as vanillin in decomposed bodies. Burned remains would not smell of vanilla; hence, Joan of Arc was not uncovered.

Obviously, identifying the skeletons of legendary figures can be a time-consuming process, but recent developments in technology have vastly improved the means to authenticate ancient remains.