Confirmed: The Body of Cleopatra's Sister

Is this the face of Cleopatra's younger sister, Arsinoe? She looks neither Egyptian nor black African to me - she looks like the Latina down the street. From The Sunday Times March 15, 2009 Found: the sister Cleopatra killed Forensic experts believe they have identified the skeleton of the queen’s younger sister, murdered over 2,000 years ago Daniel Foggo ARCHEOLOGISTS and forensic experts believe they have identified the skeleton of Cleopatra’s younger sister, murdered more than 2,000 years ago on the orders of the Egyptian queen. The remains of Princess Arsinöe, put to death in 41BC on the orders of Cleopatra and her Roman lover Mark Antony to eliminate her as a rival, are the first relics of the Ptolemaic dynasty to be identified. The breakthrough, by an Austrian team, has provided pointers to Cleopatra’s true ethnicity. Scholars have long debated whether she was Greek or Macedonian like her ancestor the original Ptolemy, a Macedonian general who was made ruler of Egypt by Alexander the Great, or whether she was north African. Evidence obtained by studying the dimensions of Arsinöe’s skull shows she had some of the characteristics of white Europeans, ancient Egyptians and black Africans, indicating that Cleopatra was probably of mixed race, too. They were daughters of Ptolemy XII by different wives. [So the scientists deduce that Cleopatra was of "mixed race" whatever that means these days, ha! - based on her sister's skeleton? Oh please!] The results vindicate the theories of Hilke Thür of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, who has long claimed that the skeleton was Arsinöe. She described the discovery of Arsinöe’s ethnicity as “a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra’s family”. [Why is Cleopatra's "ethnicity" a "real sensation"???] Fellow experts are now convinced [are they?]. Günther Hölbl, an authority on the Ptolemies, said the identification of the skeleton was “a great discovery”. The forensic evidence was obtained by a team working under the auspices of the Austrian Archeological Institute, which is set to detail its findings at an anthropological convention in the United States later this month. The story of the discovery will also be the subject of a tele-vision documentary, Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer, to be shown on BBC1 at 9pm next Monday. [Ahhhh, now the real truth comes out about this sensationalist news story - it's all about publicity for this television "special." Geez!] The institute’s breakthrough came about after it set out to examine Thür’s belief that an octagonal tomb in the remains of the Roman city of Ephesus contained the body of Arsinöe. According to Roman texts the city, in what is now Turkey, is where Arsinöe was banished after being defeated in a power struggle against Cleopatra and her then lover, Julius Caesar. Arsinöe was said to have been murdered after Cleopatra, now with Mark Antony following Caesar’s death, ordered the Roman general to have her younger sibling killed to prevent any future attempts on the Egyptian throne. [So, we don't even know for sure if Cleopatra was guilty of ordering the murder of her sister? Easy enough to blame her instead of Antony - or someone else looking to implicate Cleopatra and ruin her reputation with a rumor campaign... And yet what is the name of the upcoming t.v. special: Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer (of her own sister, tsk tsk). How low-life can the producers get? Must have studied out of the book of Stalin.] The distinctive tomb was first opened in 1926 by archeologists who found a sarcophagus inside containing a skeleton. They removed the skull, which was examined and measured; but it was lost in the upheaval of the second world war. [????] In the early 1990s Thür reentered the tomb and found the headless skeleton, which she believed to be of a young woman. Clues, such as the unusual octagonal shape of the tomb, which echoed that of the lighthouse of Alexandria with which Arsinöe was associated, convinced Thür the body was that of Cleopatra’s sister. Her theory was considered credible by many historians, and in an attempt to resolve the issue the Austrian Archeological Institute asked the Medical University of Vienna to appoint a specialist to examine the remains. Fabian Kanz, an anthropologist, was sceptical when he began this task two years ago. “We tried to exclude her from being Arsinöe,” he said. “We used all the methods we have to find anything that can say, ‘Okay, this can’t be Arsinöe because of this and this’.” After using carbon dating, which dated the skeleton from 200BC-20BC, Kanz, who had examined more than 500 other skeletons taken from the ruins of Ephesus, found Thür’s theory gained credibility. He said he was certain the bones were female and placed the age of the woman at 15-18. Although Arsinöe’s date of birth is not known, she was certainly younger than Cleopatra, who was about 27 at the time of her sister’s demise. The lack of any sign of illness or malnutrition also indicated a sudden death, said Kanz. Evidence of the skeleton’s north African ethnicity provided the final clue. Caroline Wilkinson, a forensic anthropologist, reconstructed the missing skull based on measurements taken in the 1920s. Using computer technology it was possible to create a facial impression of what Arsinöe might have looked like. [She reconstructs the skull based on measurements of a missing skull that we have no idea were actually accurate, and from there she "reconstructs" a face. Some people accuse Goddesschess of being "out there" with our theories about the origins of chess, but we haven't tried any stunts like this one!] “It has got this long head shape,” said Wilkinson. “That’s something you see quite frequently in ancient Egyptians and black Africans. It could suggest a mixture of ancestry.” Hmmmm, does this mean those recently discovered "elongated skulls" found in Siberia are a mixture of ancient Egyptians and black Africans, too???

Mummy's Face Reconstructed

Latest technology applied to a "virtual" facial reconstruction of a mummy. From 3news.co.nz Who's your mummy? High-tech wizardry reveals face of ancient aristocrat Wed, 28 Jan 2009 6:51p.m. The face of an Egyptian mummy at Otago Museum has been revealed for the first time in over 2,000 years. The 35-year-old female aristocrat has been part of the museum's collection for more than a century. The facial reconstruction of the mummy is the result of over a year's work by a team from Otago University and they are confident that their modern day model is extremely accurate. "I would say if somebody from that era comes and sees this reconstruction, I would say they would recognise her," says Dr George Dias from Otago University's Adanatomy Department. The team developed an advanced method of facial reconstruction, which more accurately recreates the soft tissues like nose and skin surrounding the skull. Previous methods have more guesswork and left the process open to artistic interpretation. "We know there's no such thing called an average face," says Dr Dias. "You take two people from the same racial background, same age, same sex, the faces are different." Four years ago, scientists in Egypt put the mummy of Tutankhamen through a CAT scan. There, the fragile skeleton of the young Pharaoh was already unwrapped. But this new process is non-invasive, preserving the ancient artefact by editing the original CAT scan. The mummy was then electronically unwrapped, stripping away her wooden sarcophagus, bandages, and remaining soft tissue - revealing an accurate 3D image of the skull inside. The process also has genuine real world applications, in the area of Police forensics and cold cases. The next step is using silicone skin, to create a more human face. 3 News