Faza inicjalna najstarszego cmentarza wczesnośredniowiecznego Sandomierza
The initial phase of the oldest early medieval cemetery at Sandomierz

Author(s): Marek Florek
Subject(s): Archaeology, Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Sandomierz; early Middle Ages; elite graves
Summary/Abstract: In the years 2013–2015, the oldest part of the skeletal cemetery, which functioned in the 11th century on the so-called Town Hill in Sandomierz. Some of the graves dated to the end of the 10th and/or the beginning of the 11th century are in form and applied funeral ritual similar to the so-called chamber graves. They contained above-standard, as for the conditions Lesser Poland, equipment (including clay pots, an axe, horseshoe clasps, a set for striking fire). Forms of graves and equipment suggest foreign origin of some of the deceased, which is also confirmed by the results of specialist analyses on the content of strontium isotopes. Noteworthy is the relatively large number of "eastern" elements in the equipment of the dead: an ax (axe), a key reused as a flint, horseshoe clasps, whorls. Taking into account the dating of the graves and their forms and equipment, it can be assumed that we are dealing with elite burials belonging to people whose at least some of them came to Sandomierz from outside, probably representing the Piast rule. They could have been newcomers from Wielkopolska, however, it cannot be ruled out that - especially in the case of the deceased from grave 9 - we are dealing with a Varangian - Rus in the service of one of the first two historical rulers of the Piast dynasty. These graves gave rise to it probably the oldest necropolis in Sandomierz, used by its inhabitants deep into the 11th century.

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