Archaeologists have discovered part of a cemetery containing 1,000-year-old human bones near the ruins of a fortified medieval village in the Polish village of Bolkovo.
This discovery dates back to a time when many people in Poland were converting from paganism to Christianity. “We consider these people to be representatives of the ‘first Christians’ of these lands,” Justyna Marczewka-Dugonska, a researcher at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw and a member of the research team, told Live Science via email.
Archaeologists noted that even though people were converting from paganism to Christianity, they still buried grave goods, a practice more common among pagans. Along with the bodies, researchers found the remains of arrowheads, battle axes, knife blades, rings and carnelian beads.
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Some media outlets have claimed that the find is a mass burial of warriors who served under Mieszko I, a Polish duke who ruled from about 960 to 992 and unified the country and created an independent state, but researchers we spoke to said these claims were inaccurate. Instead, people were buried in single graves within the cemetery, they said.
All burials seem to date back to the time of Mieszko I, but it is not clear what kind of relationship these people had with Mieszko I. “Historically, it remains to be seen whether we can argue for any relevance,” Malczewka-Dugonska said.
“For now, the human bones have been collected and are awaiting anthropological analysis,” Malczewka-Dugonska said.
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This analysis may allow researchers to learn more about who these people are. Marchewka-Długońska said at least one of them may have experienced some kind of trauma in their life.
“Preliminary observations carried out before cleaning revealed evidence of healed rib fractures on the right side of one of the bodies,” Malczewka-Dugonska said.
The burials were discovered during excavations carried out in advance of the construction of a gas pipeline in the area, and investigations are ongoing.
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