It's The Czar All Right, But Where's Anastasia?

By Anastasia Toufexis

THE NINE SKELETONS DUG UP LAST YEAR FROM A PIT NEAR Yekaterinburg, Russia, were not just any old bones: they were believed to be the remains of the murdered Czar Nicholas II and his family. If that were true, scientific examination of the remains could solve some of the mysteries surrounding the 1918 Bolshevik execution of the Romanovs. But would anyone believe the conclusions of the Russian investigators? To ensure credibility, government officials took the unprecedented step of inviting a team of American forensic experts to examine the remains and offer an independent assessment. "That's tantamount to the U.S. asking the Russians for help in investigating the death of John Kennedy," says dentist Lowell Levine, co-director of the New York State Police forensic-sciences unit.

In a bare room on the second floor of the forensics institute in Yekaterinburg last month, Levine and three colleagues studied the recovered skulls, bones and teeth of five females and four males. Their conclusion: these were indeed the remains of the Czar, along with his wife Alexandra, three of their daughters, the family doctor and three servants, two male and one female.

Accounts of the execution agree that the victims were shot, but vary as to what happened to the bodies. Among the reports: they were doused with sulfuric acid, cremated or tossed into a mine shaft. The research team found some evidence to support parts of the stories. The teeth and bones, for instance, show etching and whitening indicative of acid. One surprise was that Czar Nicholas appeared to have had little dental care and suffered from severe periodontal disease. The Czarina, on the other hand, had highly sophisticated dental work, including porcelain crowns.

Missing were the bodies of the youngest Romanovs: Alexei, then 13, and Anastasia, 17. "The bones we have show completed growth, which indicates more mature individuals," observes team leader William Maples, curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History. Did Alexei and Anastasia escape alive, as legend has it? Not likely. Their bodies were probably cremated, say the scientists. Anthropologist Maples recommends "a good archaeological survey outside Yekaterinburg to find the fire pit. Then we can put an end to the romantic myths and close the case."