By the 1990s, researchers proposed that the unusual burial might have belonged to Cleopatra’s half-sister, who some believed was executed in Ephesus in 41 BCE at the demand of Mark Antony.

In 1929, archaeologists in Ephesus, Türkiye, came across a skull in a marble sarcophagus at the "Octagon," an ancient mausoleum. The rest of the skeleton was uncovered in the 1980s, and scientists at the time hypothesized that the remains were those of Arsinoë IV,

A mystery dating back nearly a century about a skull believed to belong to Cleopatra's murdered half-sister has been solved using modern DNA analysis and radiocarbon dating.

A cutting-edge analysis of a skull found in Turkey in 1929 proves once and for all that it is not Arsinoë IV, Cleopatra's half sister.

Scientists have learned that a skull that long-believed to be that of Cleopatra’s sister Arsinoë IV actually belonged to a young boy. A team from the University of Vienna and Austrian Academy of Sciences analyzed the skull and found that the boy was likely between 11 and 14-years-old and suffered from an unknown developmental disorder.

The mysterious ancient skull, found in the 1920s, sparked a wave of theories then “sank into oblivion” — until recently.