An end to a rumour

Aysim Tug
*
, Yesim Dogan Alakoc, I

. Hamit Hanc
Department of Forensic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ankara, Turkey
Received 11 November 2003; accepted 18 August 2004
Available online 19 December 2004
Abstract
Mardin, is a city in the southeastern part of Turkey where people from different cultures and religions have been living
together peacefully for centuries. The province hosted many valuable historical constructions representing different civiliza-
tions. Kasmiye Medresse, one of the most important educational centers of its times, has a sacred value for people in Mardin.
The reason is that the stain on the wall of Kasmiye Medresse is considered to be Sultan Kasms blood. Our study aims to
analyze if the stain in question is blood. Serological tests are performed by using Kastle-Meyer and Luminol reactives on
the scrapped samples taken from stained and unstained parts of the wall. At the end of the analysis, the stain is turned out to be a
dye made of herbal roots ending the rumour of centuries.
# 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Forensic serology; Blood stain; X-ray diffractometer; Mardin; Kasmiye Medresse.
1. Introduction
Mardin, an ancient city situated in the southeastern part
of Turkey is remarkably rich with its archaeological, ethno-
graphic, architectural, historical and visual values. This area
provides an outstanding open air museum with many ancient
remains from the times of the Subari, Hurri, Sumer, Akad,
Mittani, Hittites, Assyrians, Schytians, Babylonians, Per-
sians, Macedonia, Abgar, Romans, Arabians, Seljuk Turks,
Artuklu and the Ottoman.
1
Among various historical mos-
ques, mausoleums, churches, monasteries and other reli-
gious creations of the different religious beliefs in the
province of Mardin, Kasmiye Medresse, lying just beneath
the hill to the southwest of the town, is known as one of the
most important educational centers of its times. In addition
to medicine, philosophy and astrology are known to be
taught in this medresse as well. The architectural style used
in the building shows that construction started and mostly
nished in Artuklu times. Although the construction date of
Kasmiye Medresse coincides with the Artuklu reign
(towards the end of the 14th century), the planning, stone
working style and ornamental motifs do not completely
reect Artuklu period. Therefore, it is assumed by some
scholars that, the Medresse was completed by the
Akkoyunlu whose sultan, Cihangir, had a son named Kasm
(14571502). The structure is actually a complex with its
two story Medresse, mosque and tombs [1].
Besides its historical, educational and architectural
value, Kasmiye has also a sacred value both for local people
and visitors due to a rumour about Kasms death. According
to narratives, Sultan Kasm was beheaded by an enemy in
this Medresse. Following his death, Kasms sister swept her
brothers blood with her scarf and splashed it on the wall
leaving blood marks (Fig. 1). Since then, it has been believed
that stains seen on the wall of Kasmiye Medresse are the
residues of Kasms blood [2].
www.elsevier.com/locate/forsciint
Forensic Science International 153 (2005) 156160
* Corresponding author. Present address: Ankara U

niversitesi,
Tp Fakultesi, Adli Tp Anabilim Dal, Dikimevi 06100, Ankara,
Turkey. Tel.: +90 312 319 15 14.
E-mail address: aysimtug@yahoo.com (A. Tug).
1
http://www.mardin.gov.tr/.
0379-0738/$ see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.08.022
A. Tug et al. / Forensic Science International 153 (2005) 156160 157
Fig. 1. Stains on Kasmiyes wall that have been believed to be Kasms blood.
Fig. 2. XRD result of unstained part of the wall showing that the stone is made of calcite (Calcite-ASTM No: 50586).
2. Materials and methods
Samples (approximately 1 g of each stained and
unstained parts) were taken from the wall by the request
and permission of the Cultural Directorate of Mardin. On the
scrapings of the sample, serological tests were performed by
Kastle-Meyer and Luminol reactives. Samples with
serologically negative results were then investigated by X-
ray diffractometer.
In order to apply the X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique,
granules of the specimens were powdered to particles smal-
ler than two micrometers. Then, to analyze the mineral
contents of the stone, samples taken from the unstained
parts were analyzed by X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The
third step was to analyze the stained part of the wall and
determine the difference between stained and unstained
parts. XRD analysis was also performed on the dried and
powdered blood so as to see how blood would normally look
on the XRD. As a result, the serological tests were con-
rmed. The next step was to analyze the substance which has
a colour that seems to be similar to the colour of blood. An
herbal root dye used on carpets and mats, and henna were
A. Tug et al. / Forensic Science International 153 (2005) 156160 158
Fig. 3. XRD result of stained part of the wall showing that the stain consists of Whewellite and Weddellite (Whewellite-ASTM No:20231,
Weddellite-ASTM No: 17541).
Fig. 4. Since blood does not contain any crystalline structures, dried and powdered blood has an amorphous appearance in XRD analysis.
selected for the XRD examination. The results of the XRD
analyses were matched with the ASTM (American Stan-
dards of Testing Materials) numbers in Mineral Powder
Diffraction Databook [3].
3. Results
XRD analysis of the unstained parts showed that the
stone was made only of calcite (calcium carbonate = -
CaCO
3
) (Fig. 2). In the analysis done on the stained parts
Whewellite (C
2
CaO
4
H
2
O) and Weddelite (C
2
CaO
4
2H
2
O)
minerals were also identied, in addition to calcite (Fig. 3).
XRD analysis of dried and powdered human blood dis-
played an amorphous structure reecting organic origin
(Fig. 4) with a distinct characteristic from the stain. XRD
analysis of the root dye showed that the substance is a
combination of two synthetic minerals; Thenardite
(Na
2
SO
4
) and Halite (NaCI) (Fig. 5). Finally XRD analysis
of hennaturmeric mixture showed that they are made of
Whewellite, Quartz (SiO
2
) and some organic compounds
(Fig. 6).
A. Tug et al. / Forensic Science International 153 (2005) 156160 159
Fig. 5. XRD result of root dye showing that it includes thenardite and halite crystalline structures (Thenardite-ASTM No: 371465, Halite-
ASTM No: 5628).
Fig. 6. Crystalline structures of quartz and whewellite are seen in the XRD analysis result of henna and turmeric (Quartz-ASTM No: 331161).
4. Discussion
From a forensic perspective, in order to test a dried stain
to see if its blood or not there is a particular method that
needs to be followed. The rst step is the proong using
some chemical tests. The chemical tests, all in common,
detect the heme group in hemoglobin which is specic for
blood. Presumptive tests are generally quick, easy to do, and
very sensitive. A positive result indicates that it is worth-
while to continue with further tests; a negative result strongly
suggests that blood is absent [4]. In our study, Kastle-
Meyer and luminol reactives were used for presumptive
tests and both tests concluded that the stain was not blood.
As blood tests were negative, the second step was to
investigate the substance that have the blood like colour.
X-ray diffraction method was preferred since it is a powerful
technique for identication of ne grained crystalline sub-
stances and investigation of some aspects of crystalline
structure. The components, that are not suitable to be
identied by chemical analyses and microscopy, can be
analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. Similarly
in limestones, shells and sediments the compound CaCO
3
exists in two different crystalline forms; calcite and arago-
nite. XRD can be used to identify the relative amounts of
these minerals.
2
In XRD, samples are broken into smaller
pieces (approximately 2 mm) so that idiomorphic and xeno-
morphic particles can move freely. When these powdered
samples are exposed to the X-ray diffractometer, idio-
morphic and/or hypidiomorphic crystalline substances illus-
trate sharp peaks. Organic materials, like blood and plant
tissues, which do not have crystalline structures give amor-
phous appearance [5].
In our study, we concluded that the stain contains Whe-
wellite and Weddellite minerals. Root dye which is a com-
bination of Thenardite and Halite minerals was eliminated
because it does not contain any above mentioned minerals.
Henna containing Whewellite mineral can be considered a
stronger candidate. However, the substance that contains
Weddellite mineral is unknown. In order to prepare hair-dye,
various herbal combinations are added to henna to modify
the reddish colour and extend the duration of the dye.
Nowadays tea, tumeric, laurel, wallnut shell, onion shell
and nettle are the best known combinations. Therefore, they
were analyzed by XRD with henna in a mixture so as to nd
out if any of them contain Weddellite mineral. None of the
substance showed positive result. However, it may not be
implausible to assume that the substance that was used in the
henna mixture during that period may not be available today.
The nding of this study concluding that the stains on the
wall in Kasmiye Medresse do not contain any blood put an
end to the rumour that continued for centuries.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank geology engineers I

nciser Girgin
and Bilgin C iftci, from General Directorate Mineral
Research and Exploration of Turkey, for their contributions
and close interest in this study.
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2
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