Analysis of arsenic and mercury content in human remains of the 16th and 17th centuries from Moscow Kremlin necropolises by neutron activation analysis at the IREN facility and the IBR-2 reactor FLNP JINR

A groundbreaking analysis of human remains from the Moscow Kremlin necropolises, spanning the 16th and 17th centuries, has confirmed acute mercury poisoning in Anastasia Romanovna, the first Russian Tsarina, who died in 1560. Using neutron activation analysis (NAA) at two facilities—the IREN source of resonance neutrons and the IBR-2 reactor—researchers detected high levels of mercury not only in Anastasia's remains but also in those of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich (died 1581), son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and Prince Mikhail Vasil’evich Skopin-Shuiskii (died 1610). The study employed both relative and absolute NAA methods to quantify arsenic, mercury, and other elements with precision. Conducted at the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics (FLNP) JINR, this research sheds light on historical figures' health, leveraging advanced spectrometric techniques and automated measurement systems.

Panova, T. D., Dmitriev, A. Yu., Borzakov, S. B., & Hramco, C. (2018). Analysis of arsenic and mercury content in human remains of the 16th and 17th centuries from Moscow Kremlin necropolises by neutron activation analysis at the IREN facility and the IBR-2 reactor FLNP JINR. Physics of Particles and Nuclei Letters, 15(1), 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1134/s1547477118010132