Slavs or Christianized Balts? Genetics allowed to resolve the dispute over who is buried in the ancient necropolis in Vilnius
In the very center of the modern capital of Lithuania, archaeologists have unearthed a Christian cemetery that existed even before the official Christianization of Lithuania into the Catholic faith. For decades, there was a discussion in the scientific community about the ethnic origin of the people buried there, until DNA decoding put an end to it.
R. Janaitis and I. Kaplunaitė examine a burial at the cemetery during the 2010 excavations. Photo from the publication: "Rusėnų miestas Vilniuje: pagal naujausius archeologinius tyrimus" (Ruthenian city in Vilnius: according to the latest archaeological research)
Belarusian historian Vyacheslav Nossevich drew attention to the scale of this scientific event. Analyzing the recently published preprint of an international paleogenetic study on the bioRxiv portal, which deciphered the complete genomes of 58 individuals from the Vilnius cemetery, he noted that it is DNA data that can definitively clarify the question of who was actually buried in this Christian necropolis.
"Ruthenian City"
The religious situation in Lithuania in the 13th and early 14th centuries was volatile. Until 1387, the official religion remained the local pagan cult, and cremation dominated the burial rituals of the Balts. However, alongside the territories inhabited by pagans, and sometimes within them, Orthodox communities also existed.
Plan of Vilnius at the end of the 14th century. The letters CR designate the quarters that scholars attribute to Civitas Rutenica — the "Ruthenian City". Among the many small churches in this area, the oldest temple of the city stands out — the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos, located near the Vilnia River. Photo from: "Русский город" (Russian City), historically formed in Vilnius in the 14th–15th centuries." R. Janaitis, V. Vyazhavichyene. 2009
This area in the eastern part of the modern Old Town appears in historiography as Civitas Rutenica — the "Ruthenian City".
This toponym first appears in written sources in Wigand of Marburg's "New Prussian Chronicle" under the year 1383. The chronicler of the Teutonic Order reports that the Grand Master sent four commanders to Vilnius to "burn down the Ruthenian City" (in the Latin original "ut civitatem Rutenicam incinerarent"). Archaeological and archival data allow dating the appearance of Orthodox residents in the city to a much earlier period.
Plan of burials between Bokšto, Spaskaja, and Maironio streets in Vilnius. Photo from: I. Kaplunaitė. "Traces of Christian cultural influences in pagan Vilnius: the cemetery on Bokšto Street" R. Janaitis, I. Kaplunaitė. 2022
A stylish square on Bokšto Street with a luxurious SPA in the former Savičius hospital is located where 700 years ago Vilnius Christians buried their dead. Photo: sa.lt
In 2005, in the "Ruthenian City", on the territory of the former hospital at the corner of Bokšto Street ("bakšta", or bašta - the same as a tower; the name is later - the street led to a defensive bastion) and Spaskaya Street, a ground cemetery was discovered during protective works.
In the following years, researchers led by Lithuanian archaeologists Rytis Janaitis and Irma Kaplunaitė excavated over half a thousand burials there. All of them represent inhumations (body placements) according to Christian rites: the bodies lay in wooden coffins or structures imitating them, and were strictly oriented with their heads to the west, as is still customary for burials in our region.
To determine the exact time of this community's existence, scientists turned to natural science methods. The results of radiocarbon analysis (14C), performed on 27 bone material samples in the Poznań laboratory under the guidance of Professor Tomasz Goslar, showed that burials here took place from the mid-13th century, i.e., the time of Mindaugas, up to the early 15th century, i.e., the time of Vytautas.
The Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos, built in the mid-14th century, is one of the oldest churches in Vilnius and the main church of the "Ruthenian City". It was heavily rebuilt in the 19th century. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Zairon
Additional analysis of stable isotopes refuted the possibility of error due to the so-called "freshwater reservoir effect," where a large amount of river fish in the diet can artificially "age" radiocarbon dates.
Thus, it is scientifically proven that a large Christian necropolis in Vilnius appeared at least a century before the official Christianization of Lithuania, making it a unique monument for understanding who inhabited this part of the city.
Slavs or "Orthodox Yatvingians"?
The material culture of the cemetery on Bokšto Street immediately attracted the close attention of researchers. Despite the Christian tradition, which does not provide for rich grave goods, about 10 percent of the burials contained items.
The most significant finds were in female graves — head wreaths (diadems), constructed from gilded silver and tin plates sewn onto fabric or leather. In addition, multi-beaded temporal rings and characteristic rings were found.
A female head wreath, assembled from gilded silver-tin plates, found in burials on Bokšto Street. The technology of their production by embossing indicates a high level of jewelry craftsmanship, whose roots lead south and east of Lithuania. Photo: A. Blažys. "The Orthodox Community’s Social Arena in Vilnius" R. Janaitis, I. Kaplunaitė
As the authors of the excavations, R. Janaitis and I. Kaplunaitė, note, these ornaments are more typical for Slavs than for Lithuanians. The technology of their manufacture (embossing) and the fashion for wearing such wreaths came to Lithuania from Byzantium via Kievan Rus' and the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia.
Further confirmation of the Eastern Christian vector was the discovery of an Old Rus' enkolpion from the 12th century – a pectoral cross-reliquary – in the cultural layer.
However, the question of who physically were the people who wore these items and lay in the graves of Civitas Rutenica sparked a prolonged and rather sharp discussion in Lithuanian science.
Restored head wreath, found during the 2009 excavations. Photo: "Rusėnų miestas Vilniuje: pagal naujausius archeologinius tyrimus". 2015
Beautiful rings from the cemetery burials. Photo: A. Blažys, A. Baltėnas, I. Kaplunaitė. "Civitas Rutenica in early Vilnius in the 14th and 15th centuries. The socio-cultural aspect" R. Janaitis. 2012
The problem was that similar wreaths had previously been found in another early center of Lithuania — Kernavė (Kriveikiškiai cemetery).
Archaeologists Aleksej Luchtanas and Gintautas Vėlius, who studied Kernavė, proposed a hypothesis according to which these ornaments were exclusively used in the places of residence of Yatvingian tribes.
Accordingly, the people buried there were interpreted by them not as Slavs, but predominantly as local Balts who simply fell under the strong cultural influence of Orthodoxy and adopted Slavic jewelry traditions.
Female head wreath, assembled from gilded silver plates. Photo: A. Blažys, I. Kaplunaitė. "The Orthodox Community’s Social Arena in Vilnius" R. Janaitis, I. Kaplunaitė
As Vyacheslav Nossevich notes, regarding the Vilnius finds, there was a certain tendency in historiography where some researchers, unwilling to acknowledge the scale of Slavic presence in the development of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's capital, "preferred to see in these 'Rutenos' their Balt-speaking ancestors who adopted Orthodoxy."
Written sources did not provide a definitive answer, as the term Rutenos in German chronicles of that time could refer to both ethnic Slavs-Ruthenians and simply adherents of the "Russian" (Eastern) faith of any origin. Debating the origin of people solely on the basis of ornament shapes could go on endlessly.
What can be said about those buried on Bokšto Street?
Spatial and anthropological analysis showed that ordinary townspeople were buried on Bokšto Street. Representatives of different social and age groups lay side by side: researchers recorded no signs of strict social hierarchy in the layout, nor any distinguished prestigious elite burial zones. Men and women, adults and children — all were buried together here, which likely reflected the Christian principle of equality in death.
At the same time, the lives of these people were far from ideal and fully corresponded to the harsh realities of the early Middle Ages. Anthropologists recorded numerous traces of diseases and injuries on the bones.
Women and children often suffered from anemia and scurvy — diseases that directly indicate malnutrition and vitamin deficiency.
At the same time, among some older men (over 40 years old), cases of ankylosing hyperostosis (DISH) were recorded — a specific bone system disease usually associated with excess weight and a very good, calorie-rich diet.
The fact that people of varying wealth lay in the same rows confirms the thesis of the absence of strict property segregation within the cemetery itself.
Researchers also draw special attention to an unprecedented case of medical care from that time. In one of the graves, the remains of a 25-30-year-old woman with multiple pelvic and femoral fractures, likely sustained from a fall from a great height, were found. The most surprising aspect of this find is that the bones had managed to heal.
Discovered burials at the cemetery. Photo: R. Janaitis. "Civitas Rutenica in early Vilnius in the 14th and 15th centuries. The socio-cultural aspect" R. Janaitis. 2012
The woman survived such severe injuries and continued to live. In the conditions of the 14th century, this would have been absolutely impossible without prolonged and careful care from other members of the community.
In Civitas Rutenica, there were also those who had to take up arms. On three male skeletons, anthropologists found traces of fatal injuries from hacking cold weapons. For example, one skull showed seven strikes with sharp metal, and another nine.
The absence of other old, professional wounds on the bones of these individuals, typical for experienced warriors, allowed scientists to draw a logical conclusion: these were not professional mercenaries of the prince, but ordinary townspeople-craftsmen. When a threat arose, for example, during another Crusader attack, the men of the "Ruthenian City" rose to defend Vilnius alongside other residents of the capital.
What does genetics say?
Despite all indirect archaeological and anthropological evidence, a true breakthrough in understanding the ethnic composition of Civitas Rutenica occurred only with the development of paleogenetics.
In late June 2026, a preprint of an international study was published on the specialized bioRxiv portal, in which scientists deciphered the complete genomes of 58 individuals from the territory of Vilnius's "Ruthenian City".
As Nossevich notes, the authors of the work divided the samples into two large chronological groups: "pre-plague" (pre-BD, the period before the Black Death epidemic of the mid-14th century) and "post-plague" (post-BD, 15th-17th centuries). It was the first, earliest group that included 19 samples from the cemetery on Bokšto Street. With the help of the specialized Haplogrouper service, researchers were able to reliably determine Y-chromosome haplogroups for 9 men from this early necropolis.
The Y-chromosome, which is passed strictly from father to son, is an ideal tool for historians, as it allows for an undistorted tracing of direct male lineages and the identification of past migration flows. And in the context of this dispute, it is of key importance.
According to V. Nossevich's estimates, modern Baltic populations (Lithuanians and Latvians) differ quite clearly in the frequency of basic haplogroups from neighboring Slavic peoples.
For Slavs, haplogroup I2a1 acts as a specific marker. In modern samples from central, southern, and eastern Belarus, its presence universally exceeds 20%, and among the Eastern Polesian ethnographic group, it reaches 40% — Eastern Polesie, the south of the Gomel region, which historians consider part of the Slavic homeland.
Among modern Lithuanians, it is found in only 2.6% of cases. In turn, Balts are marked by a very high frequency of haplogroup N (up to 40-49% in different regions of Lithuania).
Furthermore, out of ten previously studied Iron Age paleogenomes from the territory of Lithuania (3rd-6th centuries), haplogroup N was detected in seven, while the Slavic I2a1 was not recorded at all.
The results from Bokšto Street were as follows: out of 9 early male genomes, 5 individuals (more than half) had haplogroup I2a1. The typically Baltic haplogroup N was found in only one case.
Three other individuals had haplogroups E1b, J2a, and R1b. In the later, "post-plague" group from other cemeteries, the proportion already changes: there, the "Baltic" N and haplogroup R1a, which can belong to both Slavs and Balts, are more common. But the earliest layer of townspeople from the cemetery in the "Ruthenian quarter" of Vilnius demonstrates an absolute dominance of non-Baltic lineages.
Projection of ancient individuals onto a graph of modern Western Eurasian populations using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method. "Pre-plague" burials from Bokšto, marked with pink triangles (pre-BD), almost entirely fall within the Slavic (Eastern European) "cloud", while later, "post-plague" ones, marked with darker triangles (post-BD), are significantly shifted towards the "Baltic cloud". Photo: "Genomic impact of the second plague pandemic on three human populations"
Vyacheslav Nossevich draws attention to the analysis of autosomal DNA using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method, which takes into account not only direct male lineages but also the complete genome.
On multidimensional graphs, the genomes of the early Orthodox community from Bokšto are practically indistinguishable from modern Slavs. Their points lie on top of the "Slavic clouds" and practically do not enter the genetic "cloud" of modern Lithuanians.
These figures and graphs leave little room for the hypothesis about the burial of "assimilated Yatvingians" at this site. The significant presence of people with Slavic genetics proves that during the times of Mindaugas, Traidenis, and Gediminas, Civitas Rutenica was not a community of local Balts who simply adopted Orthodoxy and Byzantine fashion.
The research results allow us to assert that Vilnius, in its formative stage as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was from the outset formed with the participation of a large number of immigrants from the lands of Rus', who defended the city from common enemies with the Balts.