Antropológiai jelentés a tiszavasvári Dessewffy-kripta csontmaradványainak azonosításáról

Abstract

The exhumation carried out in the sepulchral vault of the Dessewffy family in Bűdszentmihaly (Tiszavasvari) was regrettably made timely by the recent devastation in the vault in 2015. The exhumation directed by Vasvari Pal Museum in Tiszavasvari could be fulfilled through the good offices of the members of local civil organisations and the co-operation of the Roman Catholic Church. It is planned that the family vault is being renovated and the skeletal remains are being reburied with all due solemnity. During anthropological analysis, the skeletal remains of six individuals out of the eight corpses originally buried in the vault could only be examined and identified by applying classical anthropological methods. Nevertheless, no more than four crania (two male skulls and two female crania) were available for the investigations. The skulls were identified by means of relying on each individual’s age at death known at present and on contemporary portraits of the family members buried in the vault. There was only one skull which could be related to a nearly complete postcranial skeleton, to that of Count Jozsef Dessewffy. The other male skull may have been part of Count Emil Dessewffy’s skeleton, while the female skulls were most likely to belong to Countess Eleonora Sztaray, who was Count Jozsef Dessewffy’s wife, and to Virginia Dessewffy. The male postcranial skeleton of great dimensions and without a cranium must have belonged to Count Aurel Dessewffy, who, according to contemporary portraits, was tall and well-built.