DNA study reveals mystery of ancient Scots buried at Belgian abbey

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

What was eventually discerned to be the town's medieval graveyard yielded a snapshot of the people who had lived or travelled to the town and died there since at least 800 AD.
But when scientists began to test the lineage of the cemetery's inhabitants, a surprising discovery was made.
While the vast majority could be traced to people who lived across the low countries or in Germany, five bodies from the cemetery were identified as coming from much further afield.
And researchers have concluded that each – three men and two boys, or juveniles – came from Scotland or possibly Western Ireland.
The dig took place in the centre of the town (image: Aron Bvba)But none are related to each other or to anyone else in the graveyard, and were not even buried in the same areas.
Now it is thought that the mystery has been solved – hinting at closer links between medieval Scotland and the hinterlands of Europe than was previously thought.
Today, St Truiden is a small town far from the coast in the centre of Belgium, with a population of around 40,000.
Established in the first Milleneum, it traces its roots back to the establishment of an abbey by St Trudo in the 7th century around a sacred spring said to have healing properties.
The town itself grew up around the abbey, becoming established by the mid-800s. It would go on to become a centre of the textile trade, with links across Europe, its stable population interred on top of each other at the same site.
'It's fascinating to see the genetic data from hundreds of years here in one little city,' KU Leuven professor and genealogist Maarten Larmuseau, who co-led the study, told the local Brussels Times.
'We could sample so many individuals from such a long period and same place, making it the biggest study ever for one location.'
Graves dating back centuries were discovered (Image: Aron Bvba) The study of the bones' DNA shows that four of the Scots came from between the years 1000 AD to 1286 - with the fifth believed to have originated slightly later.
At this time Christianity had deep roots in Scotland, which was becoming established as the Kingdom of Alba as Gaelic domination overrode the realms of the Picts and Britons who also occupied parts of the land.
As the bodies found in the graveyard were traced to either Scotland or Ireland, it is likely they were Gaels from the west who had travelled to Europe.
The study rules out any links to the well-travelled Vikings, whose DNA samples were also used for comparison, and who settled many parts of Scotland in the centuries prior to the date the bodies were interred.
Instead, the study believes the men and boys found in the graveyard were linked to the town's abbey itself, with one buried close to its grounds.
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The study says: 'Contrary to what might be expected based on the abbey's international connections, as noted in its chronicles, and the long-distance trade of products from Sint-Truiden, no long-distance migrants from regions outside Northwest Europe were identified among the genomes we studied.
'Most individuals in Sint-Truiden, based on their clustering with modern-day genomes from Flanders, likely had local origins in the region surrounding Sint-Truiden.
'The only exception in our sample to the predominantly local ancestry profile typical to the Low Countries is a distinct group of five individuals with profiles similar to those from Ireland and Scotland.'
It adds: 'Four of the outliers date to 1000–1286 and one to Early Middle Ages, and they were buried separately at the cemetery site.
'All male individuals belonged to the Y chromosome haplogroup R1b2-L21 clade, whose ancestry is uniquely related to the British Isles.
'Despite two of the outliers being juveniles, none of the individuals shared close genetic relationships with each other or anyone else sampled from Sint-Truiden.'
The graveyard covered a huge area (Image: Aron Bvba) At this time links religious between Scotland and the continent had become strong, with Benedectine monks establishing abbeys in several locations.
Tellingly, the abbey in Sint Truiden was also Benedictine, suggesting the men and boys were monks or at least pilgrims.
However, records kept by the abbey make no mention of Scottish connections, which would be expected if there were formal links with Caledonian abbeys.
But the other possibility is that the group were stonemasons or carpenters who were plying their trade in Europe at the time the abbey underwent reconstruction, and another large church was built in Sint Truiden.
The study says: 'It is plausible that these persons were connected to the Benedictine abbey, although the abbey's chronicles make no mention of connections to Ireland or Scotland.
'Therefore, they may have been specialized craftsmen or pilgrims during the abbey's period of growth when a large church and other parts of the abbey were constructed.'
Despite the mystery, the projects leaders remain pleased with the discovery, which represents the first remains of individuals from Scotland in the Low Countries during this period.
Aside from the Scots' remains, the DNA study also uncovered some rather more macabre findings.
Among the bones dating to the 14th century was the first trace of the lack Death in discovered medieval Flanders.
Known to be found in England and in Germany at the time, the discovery is the first time it has been found in the Low Countries or in Flanders.
But unlike the plague pits of elsewhere, Individuals with traces of the disease were buried in scattered, individual graves.
'What was really interesting was that they were not buried in a mass grave, but really separated from each other. So maybe people at that time didn't know why they were dying,' Prof Larmuseau said.
There is no mention of the plague in the chronicles of the abbey and in the city records in the 14th century, but it is then found in the DNA – which is 'amazing' , says the researcher.
However, there was the study also allowed researchers to fit together family trees from long-forgotten remains – finding that many relatives of the same familes were interred in the Cemetry during the centuries.
With so many bodies buried over so long a time, it was no surprise that the study allowed researchers to find connections between the bones.