Shocking mystery revealed in centuries-old royal tombs at queens monastery

When researchers in Barcelona recently opened centuries-old royal tombs, they uncovered a startling mystery: Several contained the wrong people.The exhumations took place at the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes in Barcelona, Spain, a nearly 700-year-old Gothic monastery founded by Queen Elisenda of Montcada.The wife of King James II of Aragon, Elisenda, founded the monastery in 1326 — and to mark its 700th anniversary, researchers wrapped up a multidisciplinary investigation into its medieval tombs.Local officials have now shared the first results of a three-year excavation and research project, which produced several unexpected discoveries.They found that many of the remains did not belong to the people assigned to the tombs.“One of the project’s most significant findings is that the opening of several tombs showed that the identities historically assigned to them do not necessarily correspond with the remains found inside,” the release noted, which was translated from Catalan.“In the tomb of Artau de Foces, researchers found no male individual.Instead, they discovered the remains of five people: two adult women and three children.”The sheer number of skeletons found was surprising, said Enric Puga, communications officer for the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes.Puga told Fox News Digital that researchers were not expecting to find the remains of 25 people in eight tombs — and were even more surprised to find over 200 archaeological samples, including funerary offerings and preserved plants.“The openings have shown re-openings and subsequent alterations, which means that we do not always find the person identified with the tomb,” he said.“This is the case of the tomb of Francesca Saportella, second abbess of the monastery, where at least nine individuals of late chronologies have been found, some with edge weapon wounds, as well as a female trunk mummified with fetal remains,” added Puga.“The abbess is not there,...