Bodzia cemetery

"Archaeologists remain mystified and spellbound by a 10th – 11th century AD cemetery discovered near the village of Bodzia in central Poland..."

Bodzia is a small village located in the Kuiavia region of central Poland, a few kilometres away from the river Vistula...

The first phase of the cemetery comprises four rows of chamber graves, all oriented on a N–S axis. The dead themselves were buried in wooden rectangular boxes reinforced by iron fittings. The inner parts of these boxes were decorated with fabric...

The abundant and rich grave goods, consisting of weapons, high-quality jewellery, ornaments, coins, amulets and many other finds, indicates that this was an elite cemetery. 

Weapons were found in the men's graves, i.e. swords of Viking type, langsax (one-edged sword), pickaxe, as well as finds associated with trade. These were members of the elite — warriors and their family members settled in the Polish territory...

One of the wooden coffins contained remains of a woman aged between 30–35 with a fatal wound to the back of her head. The remains of padlock and an iron chain found next to the coffin, indicate that the coffin had been closed with the chain (to prevent the woman from escaping?)

One of the peculiarities of the Bodzia cemetery consists of rectangular wooden constructions (perhaps fences or houses of the dead) preserved in the excavated area... 

But the main reason why this site is so baffling is the origin of the people buried in this cemetery together. The site demonstrates burial rituals and artefacts of Polish, Kievan Rus, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, Frisian and Khazar origin...

"A unique medieval cemetery from the 10th/11th century with chamber-like graves from Bodzia (Central Poland). Preliminary result of the multidisciplinary research" by Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka we read that "The strontium isotope analysis of the bodies found in burials, only one individual, a male, falls into the local range and was likely born locally in the Bodzia area. The remaining individuals, a mix of males and females, fall significantly below the local range for Bodzia and with in a range from approx. 0.709 to 0.711. These values are within the range of values known from southern Scandinavia or the Kiev region of the Ukraine or parts of northern Poland"

For instance this exclusively Slavic Kaptorga (amulet container) made of silver with the image of an eagle from chamber grave E72...

Bronze belt end from the grave of a young warrior from Kievan Rus, with a decoration on both sides: in the form of a Grand prince of Kiev Sviatopolk bident and an interlaced ornament...

What were all these people doing there together?

The nature of multiculturality at the site, and proximity to the Vistula River trade route, indicates that it was perhaps a foreign trade settlement connecting the Baltic to the Byzantine Empire. An ornate bronze balance found in one of the graves supports this explanation...

But another explanation is more likely. In "A unique medieval cemetery from the 10th/11th century with chamber-like graves from Bodzia (Central Poland). Preliminary result of the multidisciplinary research" by Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka we read that "The cemetery at Bodzia was established near the contemporary fortified settlement of Włocławek, locatedon the western bank of the Vistula, near a ford of strategic importance for the Piast state. The ford linked Mazovia (the eastern province of the Piast monarchy) with the areas on the western side of the Vistula. It was also at the juncture of two trans-regional trade routes: the Vistula route which joined the Baltic Sea littoral with the Danube river drainage basin (i.e. the territory of Bohemia and Moravia)and the Bug-Narew route which linked the lands of the Vistula drainage basin (and hence Piast Poland) with the Novgorod-Kievan Rus. This specific location gave Włocławek its status as one of the main fortified settlements of Boleslav the Brave’s (992-1025) state, mentioned in the 12th century chronicle of Gallus Anonymus (I.8). Together with Gniezno, Poznań and Giecz, other fortified settlements located incentral Greater Poland, Włocławek provided Boleslav the Brave, the first crowned Piast (1025), with a place for elite armed forces, which ensured his political supremacy in the region and the state."

To me the most amazing thing about this site is the amazement and bafflement of the archaeologists and the historians...This cemetery dates from around the time of the of the Cnut the Great 

According to Medieval chroniclers Thietmar of Merseburg and Adam of Bremen, Cnut was the son of a Polish princess called Świętosława, who was the daughter of the Polish king Mieszko I and sister of Polish king Bolesław I. 

This has been linked to Cnut's use of Polish troops in England and Cnut's sister's Anglicized Slavic name Santslaue...

This is also the time when large heavy duty trading ships of Slavic design start being built and used by the Norse. 

I wrote about this in my post "Ladia".

So if we know that at the time when this cemetery was built, Poles and Danes were fighting together under a Danish-Slavic kings, why is it surprising that we find Viking warriors buried in the middle of Poland?