Pig's Meadows Grave Questions

[TimM]

Yes, this thread was created before the last two bodies were discovered.

[Lady Macduff]

Simple/not so simple question. According to King and Wilson, Tatiana was shot in the back of the head and the right half of her face was blown away. http://31.media.tumblr.com/9296bd8d85e65f53aa9c487e01e808d8/tumblr_mlo3m9ZVNB1sotgwho1_500.jpg Looking at this picture it makes sense that the skull to our right is Tatiana's. The picture appears in Kurth's TSAR, identifying the skulls as belonging to "two daughters." I suspect no definite identification was given because of the book was published in 1998, before the bodies of Alexei and Maria/Anastasia were found. So, whose skulls are these? With the scholars contradicting each other it's really hard to know who to believe.

[Michael HR]

I do wish this all could be put to rest and the remaining members of the family buried in St Petersburg. It is coming up on 100 years and time to close this horrible chapter

[Forum Admin]

Because the elder girls had grown, it will likely never be possible to accurately determine which remains belong to which specific daughter.  DNA has confirmed that four females are genetically related siblings to each other and are the children of the adult parents Nicholas and Alexandra.  The one male child is also an exact match all around. So, frankly in the end, does it matter to ever know which skull belongs to which daughter? To me, it does not.  They are identified, known, and buried and will hopefully soon be joined by their brother and sister.

[Lady Macduff]

But they're not identified, and that's what leads me to respectfully disagree. I think it matters very much to know which skull belongs to which girl. Yes, they were known mostly as a unit, but they were individuals in life as well as in death and deserve to be correctly identified. I know facial reconstructions were done, at least for the Big Pair. So someone must know definitively, right?

[edubs31]

But they're not identified, and that's what leads me to respectfully disagree. I think it matters very much to know which skull belongs to which girl. Yes, they were known mostly as a unit, but they were individuals in life as well as in death and deserve to be correctly identified. I know facial reconstructions were done, at least for the Big Pair. So someone must know definitively, right?

For what it's worth I have to agree with the the FA. I've always thought the obsession over this was strictly for the science/forensics crowd, many of whom care little about the Romanovs themselves and are only enthralled by the murder and the mystery.

It would be nice to correctly identify them, sure. I'm all for a proper burial that coincides with the wishes of the deceased, but lets pretend their bodies were completely incinerated. Would that make an ounce of difference as to who they are, how they lived, and where their souls may or may not be now? When I die I'll probably ask that my body be cremated and I really don't give a hoot to where my ashes are placed afterwards. The soul of the people that were the Romanovs no longer exists in those bone fragments.

In other words, I too respectfully disagree.

[Forum Admin]

But they're not identified, and that's what leads me to respectfully disagree. I think it matters very much to know which skull belongs to which girl. Yes, they were known mostly as a unit, but they were individuals in life as well as in death and deserve to be correctly identified. I know facial reconstructions were done, at least for the Big Pair. So someone must know definitively, right?

No, nobody knows and it is not possible for anybody to know with certainty.  The skulls are too badly damaged for any meaningful facial reconstruction techniques, and they were too close in size to distinguish.  Without specific known DNA from one of them, it can never be determined which was Olga and which Tatiana, nor which was Anastasia and which Marie with any certainty.  So unless one of their baby teeth is found, or perhaps a lock of hair, with legitimate provenance, this is a question which will never be answered.

[Jen_94]

I agree with FA too. We know they are the Romanovs, but obviously who's skeleton is who...we don't know.