Archaeologists believe that they managed to find the remains of the father, half-brother and son of Alexander the Great. They rest in three tombs located in Greece, Live Science reports..

Scientists have long been arguing about which members of the royal family of those times rest in the tombs. A new study claims that previous studies have mixed up the deceased and misidentified each of them..

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The burials were found in the 1970s. Scientists then suggested that the crypts, known as Tomb I, II and III, contained the remains of several members of the royal family associated with Alexander the Great. Among them were Alexander the Great's father, King Philip II; his son Alexander IV, born to him from his wife Roxana; and his older half-brother, King Philip III Arrhidaeus.

But it remained unclear which of them rested in which burial. To find out, scientists conducted a new study.. They examined ancient records about each man, including records of injuries and skeletal abnormalities that could identify them.. This information was then compared with X-rays of the skeletons..

“It was like an ancient story of a fascinating detective story,” said the review’s lead author, Antonios Bartziokas, professor emeritus of anthropology and paleoanthropology at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece..

Scientists have determined that Philip II rests in Tomb I, this was indicated by the fused knee joint of the male skeleton. Scientists say the injury was " Researchers suggest that he was buried next to one of his wives, Queen Cleopatra, and their newborn child.

“He was the only newborn in the Macedonian dynasty who died shortly after birth. A female skeletal age at 18 was determined based on the epiphyseal lines [which show when bone stopped growing] of her humerus. [This number] matches Cleopatra's age from ancient sources,” Barciokas said..

It's worth noting that experts believe Philip II was actually buried in Tomb II and not Tomb I, a new study has found.

Since no significant injuries were found on the skeleton from Tomb II, scientists have assumed that Philip III Arrhidaeus, who ruled Macedonia after the death of Alexander, lies here.. He was buried alongside his wife Adea Eurydice, " According to the scientist, she was buried with several weapons.

" This is due to historical evidence that Macedonia was in a state of bankruptcy when Alexander began his campaign, and was very rich when he died. This is consistent with Tomb I belonging to Philip II and Tomb II belonging to his son Arrhidaeus,” Barciokas added..

In addition, scientists note that the skeleton from Tomb II did not have the characteristic sign of Philip II, signs of eye injury. Previous studies have shown that the male skull in Tomb II has traumatic damage on the right side of the skull, but these claims have been refuted in several later studies.

“From ancient sources it is known that Philip II suffered an eye injury, due to which he went blind. I was surprised to find the absence of such an eye injury in the male skeleton from Tomb II, which was originally widely described as an actual injury identifying Philip II. In other words, this was a case of describing a morphological feature that did not exist,” Barciokas said.

It is noteworthy that the skeleton from Tomb I also did not have an eye injury.

The man whose remains rest in the Tomb III tomb has been identified as Alexander IV, the teenage son of Alexander the Great. He was killed in a power struggle after the death of his father.

Ian Worthington, professor of ancient history at Macquarie University, who was not involved in the new study, said the "

“Among other things, the important point is that the two chambers of Tomb II were built at different times, while the burial of Philip III and Eurydice was planned as a double burial, meaning that the construction of both tombs had to be simultaneous,” he noted.

The skeleton from Tomb II also showed evidence of eye trauma, the scientist said..

“There is also a serious problem associated with the injury around the right eye of the skull from Tomb II, which corresponds to the wound that Philip received at Methon in 354 BC. when a bolt from the ramparts hit him in the eye.

Even the undecorated walls of the tomb (unlike Tomb I) suggest that it contains Philip II, since we know that his son and successor Alexander III [had to] quickly bury his father in order to deal with the Greek revolt and purge against. Alexander planned to revisit the tomb and make it a competitor to the pyramids, but never did so,"

Previously, archaeologists found in Greece an ancient store from Roman times that was destroyed by some “sudden event,” probably an earthquake. The age of the building is estimated at 1600 years.