Locals or Foreigners? The Phenomenon of Medieval Graves in Stone Settings in Mazovia (Poland) in the Light of the Results of Interdisciplinary Research: a Case Study

Medieval cemeteries with graves in stone settings from Mazovia (central-eastern Poland) have been a mystery for central European archaeology since the mid-19 th century. Attempts to verify the claim about the domestic or foreign origin of their users, made by standard methods, have so far proved unsatisfactory. To resolve this issue, the authors proposed an interdisciplinary approach. Archaeogenomic and stable isotopes analyses were performed to establish where these populations came from, how mobile they were, and to determine their nutritional standards. Anthropological research was used to assess the physical shape of representative populations and to indicate similarities and differences in their living conditions. Finally, the task of archaeologists was to isolate the main cultural features allowing for chronological diversification of cemeteries and to point graves from their initial phases in order to define the origins of their distinctive stone structures. To clarify these issues, radiocarbon dating of human bones using the AMS method was of key importance. In the article selected results of the project in the comparative perspective of the two representative cemeteries are presented.