Verification of biological relationships in the Dietrichstein princely family from Mikulov by cranial non-metric traits analysis (Moravia, 17th to 19th centuries)

Pages	53–62
DOI	10.37520/jnmpnhs.2024.005
Keywords	cranial morphology, similarity coefficient, biological distance, genealogically documented sample, family tomb
Type of Article	Peer-reviewed
Citation	CVRČEK, Jan, VELEMÍNSKÝ, Petr a DROZDOVÁ, Eva. Verification of biological relationships in the Dietrichstein princely family from Mikulov by cranial non-metric traits analysis (Moravia, 17th to 19th centuries). Journal of the National Museum (Prague), Natural History Series. Prague: National Museum, 2024, 193(1), 53–62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37520/jnmpnhs.2024.005. ISSN 1802-6842 (print), 1802-6850 (electronic). Also available from: https://www.nm.cz/en/periodicals/jotnmpnhs/193-1/verification-of-biological-relationships-in-the-dietrichstein-princely-family-from-mikulov-by-cranial-non-metric-traits-analysis-moravia-17th-to-19th-centuries

Journal of the National Museum (Prague), Natural History Series | 2024/193/1

This study details the verification of documented biological family relationships in the skeletal remains of 9 members of the Dietrichstein princely family from their tomb in Mikulov, Moravia, using skeletal morphology. Another goal was to determine the degree of morphological similarity to other examined family members of the unknown individual from the coffin of Walter Francis Xaver, 4th Prince of Dietrichstein. For these purposes, 93 cranial non-metric traits were evaluated, the degree of similarity of individuals was evaluated using the similarity coefficient. The results support the authenticity of the remains of individual family members and the documented biological family relationships. The variability of biologically related individuals is smaller than that of unrelated individuals. The unknown individual from the coffin of Prince Walter Francis Xaver is most similar to Rosa Barbara Ludovica, Countess of Dietrichstein, née Countess of Wallis, Baroness of Carrighmain (Oct. 8th, 1792 – Jun. 27th 1844). Given that her remains were also found unexpectedly in the tomb, in the coffin of Maximilian II, 1st Prince of Dietrichstein, the possibility that the two finds are related can be admitted.

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