Vorträge - Universität Salzburg

Abstracts Primus Conventus Austriacus Archaeometriae - MMIX
Nuclear STR Typing on and Preservation Measures for Skeletal Remains
Recovered from the Tomb of the Lord Archbishop Wolf Dietrich of
Raitenau
Jan Cemper-Kiesslich 1 , Mark .R. Mc Coy 2 , Franz Neuhuber 1 , Harald .J. Meyer 1 , Falk
Schumann 1 & Edith Tutsch-Bauer 1
1 Interfakultärer Fachbereich Gerichtsmedizin und Forensische Neuropsychiatrie, Universität Salzburg, Ignaz
Harrerstraße 79, A-5020 Salzburg, 43-(0)662-8044-3804, jan.kiesslich@sbg.ac.at
2 Institut für Radiologie und Neuroradiologie der Christian Doppler Klinik, Landeskrankenanstalten Salzburg;
Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität, Ignaz Harrerstraße 79, A-5020 Salzburg, 43-(0)662-4483-3902,
Ma.McCoy@salk.at
For this study, we investigated skeletal remains recovered from the tomb of the Lord
Archbishop Wolf Dietrich (W.D.) of Raitenau (1559-1617), located at the St. Sebastian
cemetery in Salzburg. The bones were covered with mould and algae as they had been
wrapped in a plastic bag. In order to stop microbial growth we dried the remains and removed
the organic adhesions. Apart from a skull, several long bones, ribs, vertebrae and smaller bone
fragments, the tomb contained four calcanei. The remains, therefore, originate from more than
one individual. Furthermore, a metal Tablet bearing the inscription ”Ueberreste des
Erzbischofs Wolf Dietrich 1848“ was found in the tomb. For nuclear autosomal and Y
chromosomal STR (short tandem repeat) analysis, we took samples from the skull, femoral
bones, ulnae, radiae, one metatarsal bone and from the calcanei. Furthermore, we took swab
samples from the hilt of W.D.s rapier and gloves as well as from a liturgical book out of
W.D.´s estate to verify the remains as those of Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau. We could show that
W.D.´s tomb contained remains of at least three male individuals. Reference samples (rapier
and gloves) did not yield amplifiable DNA, or have been most likely contaminated by
museum staff. By means of DNA analysis we could not clarify whether the remains are those
of W.D. or not (however, given that the skull is that of W.D., we were able to establish an
autosomal and Y chromosomal STR profile from W.D.´s putative remains.
- Seite 26 -