Cave funeral practices during the Roman and Migration Periods in the Cracow Upland, southern Poland

Abstract

Although caves have been used for funerary purposes almost since the dawn of time, there is very little evidence of such use in Central European Barbaricum. This paper presents newly obtained results from the Cracow Upland (southern Poland) concerning multiple skeletal remains that apparently share a similar third–fifth centuries AD chronology, corresponding to the Late Roman and Early Migration Periods. Multiple analyses have been performed to supplement archaeological data, including radiocarbon dating, osteoarchaeological analysis, ancient DNA research and isotopic analysis. The complex picture points towards unusual burial practices, which generally spanned from the third to the fifth centuries AD and involved a broad demographic, with no indication of selection based on an individual's biological profile. Isotopic analysis has also indicated the individuals’ heterogeneity with regard to diet and local versus nonlocal origin. The results point towards the previously unrecognized unique role of caves in the Przeworsk culture, then present in southern Poland.