Christina Wurst from the private research center Eurac Research, together with scientists from Italy and Switzerland, analyzed the woman’s mitochondrial DNA and found her living relatives.
In 2018, researchers said they were able to identify the woman: her mummified remains were found in the Swiss church of Barfusser. It was Anna Katharina Bischoff, who was born in 1719 and died in 1787 in Basel. She had seven children, only two of whom survived.
Her mummified remains were found near the altar, which means that the lady belonged to the upper class of Basel. The woman turned out to be short, about 142 cm.
The authors of the new work said that over the past few years, new archaeological finds and historical documents have appeared, which can be used to trace the relatives of Anna Katarina Bischoff. The researchers set themselves the task of confirming the correctness of these conclusions using genetic research.
The authors restored the family tree of the woman, it comes to the brother and sister, who were born in Basel in 1928 and 1938, the third relative was an Ohio resident, whose maternal line goes back to the sister of Anna Bischoff.
Next, the researchers compared the woman’s DNA with potential living relatives. As a result, these data were confirmed.
