Russian Dig Find Tsar's family!

[saracat]

Russian Dig find Tsar's Family
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6962606.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6962606.stm
Russia dig finds 'tsar's family'

13-year-old Prince Alexei would have been the heir to the throne
Russian archaeologists believe they may have found the remains of two children of Russia's last tsar, executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
DNA tests will be carried out on the bones, thought to be those of Prince Alexei and his elder sister Maria.

Archaeologists excavated ground close to the site in Yekaterinburg where the tsar, his wife and their three other daughters were found in 1991.

The prosecutor-general is reopening an investigation into the case.

Archaeologist Sergei Pogorelov says bullets found at the burial site indicate the children had been shot.

He told Russian television the newly unearthed bones belonged to two young people: a young male aged roughly 10-13 and a young woman about 18-23.

Ceramic vessels found nearby appear to have contained sulphuric acid, consistent with an account by one of the Bolshevik firing squad, who said that after shooting the family they doused the bodies in acid to destroy the flesh and prevent them becoming objects of veneration.

Haemophilia clue

The regional forensic bureau chief, Nikolai Nevolin, told Itar-Tass news agency that 44 bone fragments had been handed over, and would be subjected to detailed analysis.

"We know that Prince Alexei suffered from haemophilia, so we'll have to detect the genome of this disease," he said.

The bullets found at the burial site would also be tested, he said.

Nicholas abdicated in 1917, and he and his family were detained. The following year, they were sent to Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, where a Bolshevik firing squad executed them on July 17, 1918.

In 1998, experts exhumed and ceremonially reburied what were widely considered to be the remains of Nicholas, Alexandra, and the three daughters.






Read more: BBC


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I think this is facinating!

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. I wonder why didn't the provisional government

of Kerensky didn't have the Romanovs, escape to the west? Even though Russia was in WWI with Germany, the Tsar was related to Kaiser Wilhelm,who might've given him safe passage or the Royal family of England. I knew why Lennin would have the Tsar killed, to keep him from being the rallying point of the White Army,

[saracat]

3. We and Britain, who were relatives, refused to take them.We were bastards

IMHO.And Nicolas was the one we signed a treaty with but we threw him over for the communists. I would never trust us.

[smirkymonkey]

7. I believe they were planning a rescue but they didn't make it to

Ekaterinburg on time (various members of the White Russian Army and I think Kerensky made some attempts to rescue at least Alexandra & the girls.) However, they were 9 days late - the Bolsheviks beat them to it. What a tragic, brutal ending.

King George and the Kaiser turned their backs on them, basically.

[Yupster]

8. I think the order to execute them

came because the White Army was getting close enough for artillery fire to be heard in the distance.

[smirkymonkey]

9. Yes - they sped up the execution because they knew the whites

were on their way. It's one of those historical cases that haunts me for some reason. I am endlessly fascinated with it.

[MADem]

2. WOW!!!!!!!!! nt

[saracat]

4. This answers a lot about Anastasia and Alexis!

[SoCalDem]

5. Sheez.. how many were IN that family? I thought they did this years back

and even DNA tested the bones,,

Tsar Duggar?

[JenniferJuniper]

6. There should be a law against

making girls wear dresses that ugly.