A recent analysis of DNA from communal medieval burials has uncovered a surprising secret about early Christians, fundamentally altering archaeologists’ understanding of family ties during that period.
Early Christians buried their children with non-biological relatives / © Pexels
Swedish scientists from Stockholm University conducted a large-scale DNA analysis of 142 skeletons from three local medieval cemeteries (10th–14th centuries). The researchers discovered an unexpected pattern: in communal graves of children and infants, they were frequently buried alongside adults with whom they had no familial relationship.
This is reported by Live Science.
Unexpected DNA Analysis Results
Most communal burials consisted of adults and children of the same sex: women were buried with girls, and men with boys. Previously, historians and archaeologists were certain that these shared graves necessarily contained parents and their offspring. However, genetic tests have completely refuted this long-standing hypothesis.
“We often assume that adults and children sharing a grave were parents and children or other close relatives. For the most part, this turned out not to be the case,” said Maja Krzeminska, the lead author of the study.
The scientists hypothesize that such unusual burials are linked to the spread of Christianity in Scandinavia in the late 10th century. At that time, rules became stricter: unbaptized infants were forbidden from being buried in the consecrated ground of a cemetery. Therefore, grieving relatives might have secretly placed deceased infants in the graves of other adults to circumvent strict religious norms.
The Role of Social Ties and the Case of “Lady 56”
Another reason for shared burials could have been harsh climatic conditions or the structure of society at the time. People might have been buried together in the spring if they died in the winter when frozen ground made it impossible to dig individual graves. Furthermore, medieval households often included not only blood relatives but also servants, workers, and even enslaved individuals.
Despite the absence of familial ties in these shared graves, scientists found evidence that some influential families buried their relatives in the same cemetery over several generations. Specifically, archaeologists examined the remains of a Christian pilgrim, known as “Lady 56,” who died at approximately 30 years old. She was buried with a rare scallop shell, which the woman received after a pilgrimage to the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela.
“Ancient DNA analysis has finally given us the tool we’ve been waiting for to directly test these interpretations,” emphasized co-author Anna Kjellström.
Genetic analysis proved that “Lady 56’s” parents, brother, and daughters were also buried in the same Vesterhus cemetery, but in completely different locations. This confirms that for medieval people, belonging to the local Christian community could have been as important as blood kinship.
Recall that a unique archaeological find forced scientists to fundamentally revise their understanding of the brutality of the Ice Age and revealed a deeply hidden emotional side of our most ancient ancestors’ lives. In an Italian cave, scientists found evidence that humans mourned their deceased as far back as 27,000 years ago.
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