People keep asking the same questions over and over again, so I have decided to put all the basic information in one place to keep these repetiious posts to a minimum.
On July 29, 2007, certain items were discovered by S.O. Plotnikov and L.G. Vakhmyakov. In the bore pit that had been located and explored, coals, bone remains, nails and fragments from a ceramic vessel were unearthed. The spot where the remains were found this summer appears to correspond to a site described by Yakov Yurovsky, the leader of the family's killers, said Sergei Pogorelov, deputy head of the archaeological research department at a regional center for the preservation of historical and cultural monuments in Yekaterinburg.
The deputy director of the Center of protection and use of the cultural heritage of Sverdlovsk, Andreï Grigoriev, told journalists that the researches had begun after the discovery of archival documents.
" I learnt that the former regional archives of the Communist Party received documents speaking about the murder of the imperial family and about a fruitless attempt to hide corpses ", clarified Mr Grigoriev.
These documents had allowed the specialists to establish the place where the tsarevich Alexis and the grand duchess Marie would have been buried. Following the search organized on a site of 100 square meters, the researchers had discovered the remains of human bodies, bullets, fragments of wooden boxes and fragments of ceramic which, according to preliminary estimations, represented fragments of amphoras used to hold some acid.
an area of 100 square meters was laid out for further investigation. The work was carried out according to archeological methods, with the use of drainage trenches. As a result of this exploration, a large spot of coal was exposed. Upon further examination, this spot was determined to be T-shaped. After removing the layer of coal, the shapes and sizes of two overlying pits became evident in the subsoil.
An area discovered along the Old Koptyaki Road presented double bonfire sites, spread between pits, which contained bone remains in various degrees of preservation and condition; bullets; iron nails and angles, fragments of a ceramic vessel and other objects.
• Initial anthropological analysis determined that the bone remains were human, subjected to varying forms of destruction – including burning. The bones belong to two young individuals – a young man between the ages of 10-13 years, and a young woman about 18-23.
• Ceramic vessel fragments are identical to those found in the original burial site found in 1991, and appear to be fragments from ceramic amphorae containing Japanese sulfuric acid. Analysis matches these to be identical to the ones found in the burial site of the other bodies. Yurovsky et al all describe the procuring and use of this acid during the attempted burning and burial process.
• Iron angles and nails, apparently, appear to have held together the wooden crates containing the vessels with the sulfuric acid.
• The metal jacket bullets are of different calibers, from cartridges for short-barreled firearms. Analysis matches these to be identical to the ones found in the burial site of the other bodies discovered in 1991.
The Forensic Director of Medicine of Sverdlovsk Mr Nevoline clarified that the forensic scientists had also received seven fragments of teeth, three bullets of a weapon with short standard cannon and a fragment of fabric of garment.
G.I. Sukhorukov, who was assigned to go help dispose of the corpses of the Royal Family the next morning in 1918. On April 3, 1928 his memoir:... "It was necessary to begin digging up the corpses (after the attempt to burn them the previous night)...the first thing we came across was the leg of the last Nicholas. He was removed successfully, and then all the others. To be precise, it can be said that everybody was naked, except for the heir, who had on a sailor shirt but no trousers."
The three bullets also match exactly those found in the "mass grave" previously found in1991.
“The remains have been exposed to extreme heat, and the bullets were found close to the bones and must have hit the victims’ bodies,” Mr. Nevolin said
