Geologist Alexander Avdonin, born in Yekaterinburg, teamed up with Russian filmmaker Geli Ryabov in the 1970s to find the burial place of the Romanovs. Ryabov, who had worked in the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs, had access to classified documents providing reliable leads. A 1926 publication described the pit area as “a marshy place,” and a 1919 photo taken from a bridge piqued his curiosity. In secret, they locate this structure, then the tomb in 1979, but hide their discovery for fear of reprisals from the Soviet authorities:it will be made public after the fall of the Soviet Union.
An official excavation, launched in 1991, revealed that the tomb contained only nine people:five members of the Romanov family and four servants. Forensic scientist Sergei Abramov relies on cranial measurements to identify the bones, and British scientists take mitochondrial DNA from them to compare with that of common relatives. In 1993, it was announced that the corpses were those of the Tsar, the Tsarina, Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia. In 2007, charred and buried remains were discovered near the first pit; the DNA attests that they are Maria and Alexis, proof that there were no survivors.