Multiproxy analysis reveals migration and potential origins of the first Christians in medieval Vilnius

Abstract

Before Catholicism was officially adopted in AD 1387, the Lithuanian city of Vilnius was assumed to be largely pagan. Identification of Christian burials within a large medieval cemetery (late thirteenth–fourteenth centuries) in the city was therefore unexpected. Here, the authors employ multiproxy isotopic analyses of bone collagen, dentine and enamel to examine the origins of 15 individuals from the cemetery. Based on the results, the authors argue that males were more socially mobile than females, with one male possibly having immigrated from south-eastern Europe, supporting historical accounts of a multiethnic founder community including immigrant Orthodox Christians and local converts.