Gdzie pochowano mieszkańców grodu w Grzybowie?

Three skeletal graves and loose skeletal material of another four individuals (see Table 6) were uncovered and documented at the stronghold in Grzybowo as a result of excavations and scientific studies. Grave 1/2018 with the burial of a man who died at the age of Maturus, i.e. about 45-50 years old, grave 2/2018 with the burial of a young child who died at the age of Infans I, i.e. about 4-4.5 years old, and grave 1/2019 with the burial of a woman who died at the age of Adultus, i.e. about 22-26 years old, were uncovered. Two long limb bones of a young child who died at the age of Infans I, i.e., about 10-12 months of age (i.e., about 1 year old), were found next to the female skeleton in grave 1/2019 (probably from a backfill). Two human bones from the skeletons of two more individuals – a young child, a newborn or an infant who died at Infans I, i.e., around 0-3 months of age, and a young woman who died at Juvenis-Adultus – were recognized from the bulk material of the 1998 excavation. A single human bone belonging to a seven-month-old foetus, who died at 28-31 weeks of foetal life (age Infans I), was identified in the bulk material from pit 1/2018. The discovery of three graves (at a distance of 2.80 cm from each other, see Fig. 11) and fragments of human remains directly inside the stronghold in Grzybowo is extremely interesting and forces us to verify several views on the functioning and use of the gord. First of all, there is still no information on burials from the period of the stronghold’s use – neither the highly probable cremations from the period of the stronghold’s beginnings, nor from its earlier period of functioning when locals may have been buried in skeletal rites. The discovery of such necropolises would provide arguments for discussing local transformations of sepulchral rituals, but also the role and significance of the stronghold in Grzybowo. In addition, the rather late 12th/13th century (for the functioning of the stronghold) dating of the discussed burials forces us to keep verifying the time of use of the gord and to put a question mark on what role this stronghold played after the period of intensive habitation, i.e. after the mid-11th century. The fundamental question posed in the title of this article also remains open: where were the dead of the stronghold in Grzybowo buried during its greatest glory?