Locals or Migrants? Strontium Isotope Analysis of Two North-South Oriented Great Moravian Graves

i.e.
, deviating from the customary contemporary
west-east orientation) at the Great Moravian and early medieval burial grounds of Přemyslid Bohemia
and Moravia have attracted the attention of archaeologists for more than 100
years. These are most
often interpreted as the graves of foreigners, based on the assumption that diferent burial rites indicate immigrants, but this has not been confrmed or refuted with empirical evidence. With this study, we have taken the frst step towards testing the validity of this hypothesis. Samples from the dental enamel of the permanent molars of two individuals (H 16/2018 and H 18/2018) from the burial site “Na
Valách”, located at the Great Moravian central site in Staré Město, were subjected to stable strontium isotope analysis. This analysis can help to assess the likelihood of mobility for these individuals. From the results obtained, it is not possible to confrm the non-local origin of either of the individuals, although in the case of H 16/2018 we may theoretically consider it. However, to defnitively reject or confrm the
hypothesis of a non-local origin of the people buried along the north-south azimuths, future analysis of a much larger sample size will be necessary.