Czy najstarsze cmentarze szkieletowe w państwie pierwszych Piastów można datować na wiek X?
Can the oldest inhumation cemeteries in the state of the first Piasts be dated to the 10th century?

Author(s): Przemyslaw Urbanczyk
Subject(s): Archaeology, Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: funeral rite; skeletal burials; chronology; Middle Ages; Poland
Summary/Abstract: Until recently, the intuitive conviction prevailed that a departure from the centuries-old eschatological tradition, which required cremation of the corpse, took place shortly after the baptism of Mieszko I in 966. In this way, archaeologically confirmed the belief of medieval chroniclers that the conversion of the ruler resulted in the rapid Christianization of his subjects. Meanwhile from the time of his reign (before 963–992) there are no (except for Poznań) reliable evidence of a change in the funeral rite. The current dating of the oldest skeletal burials allows this change to be placed only in the last decade of the 10th century, that is already in the times of Bolesław the Brave. This means that our first historical ruler was not archaeologically visible successes in enforcing the Christian way of burying the dead.

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