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posted by janrinok on Sunday January 28 2018, @04:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-wonder-if-she-regrets-anything dept.

BBC News writes:

Scientists in the Swiss city of Basel have solved a decades-old mystery over the identity of a mummified woman.

Their research revealed a surprise: the woman is the great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother of UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

The body was uncovered in 1975 while renovations were being done on Basel's Barfüsser Church.

[...] There was no gravestone to indicate her identity, but initial testing of her wooden coffin suggested it dated from the 16th Century.

Another clue: her body was riddled with mercury - a standard treatment for syphilis from the late 15th to the 19th Century. Highly toxic mercury treatment was more often a kill than a cure and it was this that preserved her body.

The story continues to explain how scientists using historical records and DNA testing have managed to ascertain (with 99.8% probability) that the mummy was "none other than Anna Catharina Bischoff. Born in Basel in 1719, she died there in 1787." The Bischoffs are a well-established and prominent family in the Basel region.


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  • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Sunday January 28 2018, @05:25AM (1 child)

    by Whoever (4524) on Sunday January 28 2018, @05:25AM (#629342) Journal

    We know that he is American.

    Deport him to the USA.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28 2018, @06:56AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28 2018, @06:56AM (#629356)

    Deport him to the USA.

    He'll get in cahoots with TMlB, don't say I didn't give you fair warning.