An analysis of the origin of an early medieval group of individuals from Gródek based on the analysis of stable oxygen isotopes

Abstract

In the early Middle Ages, the region of the Cherven Towns, which is now located on both sides of the Polish–Ukrainian border, was fiercely contested by Slavs in the process of forming their early states. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the homogeneity of an early medieval population uncovered in that region, in the town of Gródek on the Bug River, by screening for non-local individuals. The origin of the studied skeletons was ascertained using analysis of oxygen isotopes in the phosphates isolated from bone tissue. In this paper, the isotope ratios obtained for samples collected from 62 human skeletons were compared to the background δ18O (in precipitation water) from the regions of Kraków (south-eastern Poland), Lviv (western Ukraine), Brest (western Belarus), and Gródek, as well as to the ratios determined for the animals coexisting with the studied population. Proportions of oxygen isotopes obtained for all the studied individuals were found to be similar to those for the precipitation water and animals, which indicates the absence of bone fragments of individuals originating in other regions.