Determination of Toxic Elements’ Content in the Hair of the First Russian Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna

Abstract

An elemental analysis of the Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna hair fragments from the Moscow Kremlin necropolis has been carried out. The mass fractions of elements were determined by several methods: neutron activation analysis (using three facilities – the IBR-2 reactor, the IREN research facility, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Russia; and the WWR-K reactor, Institute of Nuclear Physics, Republic of Kazakhstan), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and atomic emission spectroscopy (Institute of Nuclear Physics, Republic of Kazakhstan). The results confirmed the hypothesis of mercury poisoning of the first Russian Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna.