Prince’s mysteries to be solved?

This is the fourth time that scientists have taken up examining Prince Yaroslav the Wise’s sepulcher, which is stored in the Saint Sophia Cathedral. Previously, it was opened for scientific research in 1936, 1939 and 1964. Scientists then proved that the sarcophagus indeed contained the prince’s body. But who was buried next to him, his wife Ingigerd or another woman? This is exactly what an international group of scholars are going to find out.

Experts from Ukraine, Sweden, the UK, and the USA are to make a number of tests, in particular, DNA tests and amino acid tests (provided that components of these acids can be extracted from bone remains). According to a preliminary assessment, all these tests may take up to one year. One of the patrons of the Kyiv Sophia National Preserve allotted some 60,000 hryvnias for this purpose, while the scientists are going to work on the voluntary basis.

The sarcophagus was officially opened in front of several dozens of mass media representatives, including international ones. The scholars took out several rectangular oak boxes that contained the remains of bones. The cases with the remains will be opened in the privacy of a special room that has the necessary equipment and security systems.

“When I am asked about why the prince’s sarcophagus has been opened now, I normally answer, When should it be opened? Who else is there to do this, but us? The more so that science has made a real breakthrough and can help uncover many a mystery,” says Nelia Kukovalska, director of the Kyiv Sophia National Preserve. “The Swedish scientists (Princess Ingigerd came from Sweden) are sure that the person buried next to the prince is her. Our researchers are not very much inclined to believe that, so now we have an opportunity to find out the truth.

“Scholars will also try to determine the genetic ancestry of the Riurykide Dynasty and establish their ethnic origin. Besides, every bone will be computer-scanned, and we are going to get 3-D computer images of the people buried in the sepulcher. We are going to learn what they used to like, if they had hereditary diseases running in the family, the cause of their death, and, importantly, Prince Yaroslav’s age when he died. According to various chronicles, it happened in 1054, when he was either 65 or 75, but the year of his birth is unknown.”

Kukovalska explained that at the first stage of research a second series of anthropological tests is to be taken. Scholars will put together the skeletons in anatomical order, take measurements, and provide descriptions of each bone. Then they will X-ray them to find out if there were injuries to the muscoskeletal system. According to the chronicles, Yaroslav the Wise was lame since he was a child, and this fact was proven by the previous examinations.

Another mystery that the scholars will tackle is how a child’s bones found their way into the sarcophagus.

“The Kyiv Sophia Preserve has often been robbed, so the fragments of a child’s skull might have gotten into the sarcophagus exactly due to this. Grave robbers would often break sarcophagi open to find and steal any valuables. Thus the sepulchers were interfered with and were put into disarray. When the clergy were putting them back in order, they tried to preserve these sacred relics. This might have been how a couple of child bones ended up in the prince’s tomb.

“Moreover, in 1936 a wooden bar and two fragments of plinth (a kind of brick used in Ancient Rus’) were also found in the sarcophagus. We are also going to find out how they got there”, said Nadiia Nikitenko, Ph.D., Professor of History, head of the Department for Scholarly–Historical Research, Kyiv Sophia National Preserve. “We still do not know Prince Yaroslav’s bloodline. Who was his biological mother: the Varangian Rohnida (Rogned), a Slav, or a Finno-Ugrian woman? Little do we know about the exact number of the prince’s marriages and the children born of one or two of his wives. Research may enable us to make modifications to Yaroslav’s sculptural portrait, which will add to its historical authenticity.”

The scientists are also interested in the history of the marble sarcophagus. Some believe that it was made in Kyiv in the 11th century on Yaroslav’s direct order. Others maintain that it was brought from the Northern Euxine lands by Volodymyr Sviatoslavovych himself (Yaroslav’s father). Nikitenko tells us that Volodymyr actually brought several marble sarcophagi. They were used to bury Volodymyr the Great himself, his wife Anna, Yaroslav, Volodymyr Monomakh, and Iziaslav Yaroslavych.

Thus, it is quite possible that Yaroslav’s sepulcher was used for the second or even third time, because in the prince’s times it was nearly 500 years old. The scientists are now ready to check this version and solve other mysteries. And when confronted with a statement that it is bad omen to open graves, they say that scientific truth is much more important.