The discovery by anthropologists and geneticists from the Department of Anthropology and Biobank of the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection of the University of Lodz, already dubbed 'sensational' in the scientific community, may become the basis for further research that may provide an answer to the question of where the Vikings in central Poland came from.

'Lutomiersk has always aroused our interest, and the opportunity to revisit these burials came with the repeated analysis of archaeological materials from the site, carried out by Professor Ryszard Grygiel, presented in his excellent study on the early medieval centres of the early Piast state in this part of Poland', says Professor Wiesław Lorkiewicz from the Department of Anthropology of the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, which until now has mainly dealt with the study of skeletons representing ancient human populations from the Kujawy region.

Paulina Borówka, PhD, from the same department, adds that there were many waves of settlement of Scandinavian population groups in Poland in the period known as the Viking Age, but these are the first traces discovered in this part of the country.

'The most important mystery is how these settlers got here, and my task is to solve it - not based on indirect archaeological data, but genetic data. I dealt with this as part of my doctoral dissertation, combining currently available information on the Lutomiersk cemetery and the results of our research', she explains.

For researchers of the history of the early Middle Ages, Lutomiersk is one of the most important sites on the archaeological map of central Poland. It is the site of a cemetery here from the first half of the 11th century, where burials were discovered in the 1940s that differed in the form and equipment of the grave from other graves characteristic of this region of the country. 'The cemetery in Lutomiersk is mainly, as it is called in archaeology, a skeletal cemetery, where uncremated bodies were buried. It was discovered accidentally at the end of World War II', Borówka says.

After the war, archaeologists from Łódź began research in this area under the supervision of Professor Konrad Jażdżewski. It turned out then that 'the graves were richly equipped with various kinds of imports, most probably of Scandinavian-Russian origin'. 'It was the first archaeological site of this type in this part of Poland, interpreted as direct evidence of the presence of Scandinavians, and specifically - the Varangians, i.e. Scandinavians who settled in the areas of later Kievan Rus, in the state of the first Piast dynasty', she adds.

'The Vikings in Poland and the role they supposedly played in the formation of the Polish state, i.e. the state of the first Piast dynasty, have been talked about for over a hundred years. There are more archaeological sites in Poland that can be linked to Scandinavian population groups in the state of the first Piast dynasty. However, on this scale - the examination of the entire cemetery - everything began near Łódź, in Lutomiersk', Professor Wiesław Lorkiewicz points out.

Professor Konrad Jażdżewski's team's research ended in the early 1950s, and the archaeological materials and bone remains discovered in the Lutomierski cemetery were transferred to the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum in Łódź. The initial analysis of the preserved human skeletal remains was carried out in the 1970s. However, there were no indications that scientists would be able to read anything more from them.

'The bone remains were very poorly preserved due to the unfavourable soil conditions in this area. A dozen or so years ago, when we started to be interested in aDNA research, I myself expressed the opinion that it would be impossible to conduct genetic studies due to their poor state of preservation. Fortunately, in science you should never say +never+', the scientist admits.

Over the course of a dozen or so years, progress in laboratory research in the field of DNA isolation and analysis turned out to be so great that it was possible to conduct the research. 'We obtained funding from the EU EASI Genomics project, thanks to which our samples travelled to several laboratories, including foreign ones. As a result, we obtained DNA from the bone remains and came much closer to solving the mystery', Borówka explains.

After several years of work, scientists from Łódź obtained the first results that allowed for the analysis of DNA from the remains buried in the Lutomiersk cemetery. According to the results, the people buried there were so genetically diverse that they must have had come from different populations.

'There were burials of people of Scandinavian and Slavic origins, as well as people who were of mixed origin in relation to both of these groups. The research used bones from different parts of the cemetery, both from its main alley, where people of particular importance to the community were certainly buried, and from the outskirts of the necropolis', the researcher says.

'Scandinavian DNA' was found in different places in the cemetery, indicating that people of such origin had various social roles, and that they stayed in this area long enough for their remains to be found in both the older and younger parts of the necropolis.

'The cemetery was not used at just one point in time, burials were added over the years both in the main alley and on the outskirts. I tried to select samples for analysis from fragments of available skeletons so that they best reflected this diversity', Borówka explains.

How do we know that the remains found in Lutomiersk belonged to people originating from Scandinavia? The researcher explains that comparative data for selected skeletons from other necropolises in Poland and other European countries were used for genetic analysis. Scientists are certain are those remains belong to people originating from Scandinavian populations. This includes the archaeological site in Ciepłe in the Tczew district.

'We also took into account the research on skeletal materials published several years earlier in Margaryan's work, an extensive archaeogenetic study covering the most interesting Viking burials from all over Europe', she adds.

Genetic research on the remains from the Lutomiersk cemetery unequivocally confirmed the biological connections of some of the people from the burials discovered in Lutomiersk with the Scandinavian population, which is a very important result considering the lively discussion among archaeologists on the origin and cultural connections of monuments discovered in cemeteries such as the one in Lutomiersk. But do they bring us closer to solving the mystery of how the Vikings ended up in central Poland?

'Of course, it's great to know something for sure, and this is not the end of the research. We are planning several more analyses that may shed even more light on the observations made so far. Isotope studies would also be helpful, as they would help confirm or reject some theories about the direct geographical origin of the people from whom the bones came. In addition, research technology is still developing and who knows what we will be able to read from the remains in the next few, a dozen, or several dozen years', Paulina Borówka emphasises. (PAP)

Bartłomiej Pawlak

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