In 1977, archaeologists made a stunning discovery while excavating near the ancient town of Vergina in Northern Greece.
The researchers believed that they had found the family of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king who overthrew the Persian Empire in the fourth century BC.
Last year, scientists declared they had ‘conclusively’ revealed that the tombs contained the great warrior’s son Alexander IV, elder half-brother Philip III, and his father Phillip II.
However, a shock study now suggests that the skeleton thought to be Phillip II isn’t Alexander the Great’s father after all.
They say the male body belongs to an unknown Macedonian royal who was buried sometime between 388 and 356 BC – decades before Phillip II was killed.
Lead author Dr Yannis Maniatis, research director at the Greek National Centre of Scientific Research, told MailOnline: ‘Thus, we are absolutely certain it is not Philip II.’
Unfortunately, the resting place of Alexander the Great himself remains a mystery.
Never defeated in battle, Alexander the Great created a vast empire that stretched from Greece to India before dying in Babylon in 323 BC at the age of just 32.
The vast burial complex known as the Great Tumulus of Vergina contains the tombs of several members of the Argead Dynasty, which would go on to rule Ancient Greece.
After the site was discovered, researchers identified three tombs – referred to as tombs I, II, and III – as the likely resting places of Alexander the Great’s brother, half-brother, and father.
However, scientists could not agree on which tomb contained which member of the family – while the location of Alexander the Great’s own tomb remains unknown.
Last year, a study led by Antonios Bartsiokas, professor of anthropology at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece, claimed to reveal the ‘conclusive’ answer.
They identified Tomb I as containing Alexander the Great’s father and Tomb II to contain his half brother Philip III of Macedon – not the other way around as previously assumed.
One of Professor Bartsiokas’ key pieces of evidence is that the woman and child found in Tomb I match the accounts of Phillip II’s assassination.
Phillip and his family were killed on the orders of his ex-wife Olympias, clearing the way for her son, Alexander, to take the throne.
But by dating the Tomb 1 remains back to 356 BC, this new study shows that this skeleton cannot possibly belong to Phillip II.
Using a combination of radiocarbon dating, genetic analysis, and observations of the bones, the researchers determined that the male body was between 25 and 35 when he died.
The woman found with him, meanwhile, was between 18 and 35.
Dr Maniatis says: ‘This person’s date of death is before 356 BC, as determined with radiocarbon dating, so it excludes Philip II who died in 336 BC.
‘In addition, his age at death, determined with multiple studies of his bones, also excludes Philip II who was 45 (plus or minus four years) at death.
Damningly for the Phillip II theory, the researchers determined that baby bones in the tomb did not come from one individual, but at least six different infants.
Therefore, this cannot be the remains of Alexander the Great’s father and his murdered family.
All of the infants had been buried in the Roman period 150 BC and 130 BC, over two hundred years after the adults in the tomb.
They suggest that Roman parents might have interred their children in the tomb via an opening left by Gallic Celt graverobbers in the third century BC which was still open by Roman times.
Dr Maniatis says: ‘It is clear that Tomb I which was in the periphery of the Great Tumulus was exposed after some environmental event and so it became a convenient place for disposing dead infants in the Roman period.’
Dr Maniatis says this is a ‘rather usual practice observed in other tombs in Vergina and elsewhere’.
Based on these observations, the researchers conclude ‘previous suggestions that the skeletal remains belong to Philip II, his wife Cleopatra and newborn child are not scientifically sustainable’.
The findings mean the body of Philip II is unaccounted for.
While the man in Tomb I might not be Alexander the Great’s father, the researchers are certain that he is an older member of the same royal family.
Dr Maniatis says: ‘The Great Tumulus of Vergina is considered as the Royal burial Ground of Macedon Kings.
‘It is therefore evidenced that all these tombs are important and related to the royal family members, and hence the family of Alexander the Great. Thus, the individual interred in Tomb I is almost certainly one of his older family members.’
By analysing the different chemical isotopes found in the man’s teeth, the researchers conclude that this unknown male likely spent his childhood away from the region of Vergina.
It is possible that the male might have lived in Northwestern Greece in Upper Macedonia or in the Peloponnese.
MailOnline has contacted Antonios Bartsiokas, professor of anthropology at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece and leader of last year’s study, for comment.
WHO WAS ALEXANDER THE GREAT?
Alexander III of Macedon was born in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia in July 356 BC.
He died of a fever in Babylon in June 323 BC.
Alexander led an army across the Persian territories of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt claiming the land as he went.
His greatest victory was at the Battle of Gaugamela, now northern Iraq, in 331 BC, and during his trek across these Persian territories, he was said to never have suffered a defeat.
This led him to be known as Alexander the Great.
Following this battle in Gaugamela, Alexander led his army a further 11,000 miles (17,700km), founded over 70 cities and created an empire that stretched across three continents.
This covered from Greece in the west, to Egypt in the south, Danube in the north, and Indian Punjab to the East.
Alexander was buried in Egypt, but it is thought his body was moved to prevent looting.
His fellow royals were traditionally interred in a cemetery near Vergina, far to the west.
The lavishly-furnished tomb of Alexander’s father, Philip II, was discovered during the 1970s.
