A DNA analysis is rewriting history for Poland’s first royal family, the Piasts, who ruled from the 10th to the 14th century. Scientists had debated for decades the origins of the dynasty—were they Slavic local chieftains, Moravian exiles, or perhaps Viking warriors? Now, thanks to advanced DNA testing led by molecular biologist Professor Marek Figlerowicz from Poznań University of Technology, there is evidence that the Piasts’ male lineage may lead back to the Picts of ancient Scotland.
In collaboration with the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Poznań scientists have analyzed skeletal remains from more than a dozen Piast-era crypts. The biggest cache was excavated from Płock Cathedral in central Poland, where remains dated from 1100 to 1495 matched the historical reign of Piast rulers. Of 33 subjects examined (30 males and three females), the male skeletons all shared a rare Y-chromosome haplogroup that exists today primarily in Britain. One of the closest comparisons? A Pictish man buried in eastern Scotland in the 5th or 6th century.
“There is no doubt we are dealing with genuine Piasts,” Figlerowicz stated at a conference in Poznań in 2025. These results clearly indicate that the Piasts did not have local origins. But it is still unclear exactly when their ancestors arrived in what is now Poland—perhaps centuries earlier than Mieszko I, the first historically documented Piast ruler, or perhaps only a generation earlier through a strategic marriage alliance.
Dynastic marriages were actually a part of medieval geopolitics. Figlerowicz pointed to the historical accounts of Świętosława, sister of Bolesław the Brave, who married kings of Denmark and Sweden and became the mother of rulers of England, Denmark, and Norway.
Critics of the study caution against jumping to conclusions. Dr. Dariusz Błaszczyk of the University of Warsaw’s Institute of Archaeology has questioned the Poznań team’s identification of the haplogroup R1b-S747, suggesting that it may be the result of contamination or a sequencing error.
Meanwhile, environmental studies at Lake Lednica, a site often considered the cradle of the Piast state, offer further background. A team from Poznań analyzed buried pollen and found evidence of a drastic 9th-century ecological revolution. Oak and lime declined, making way for cereal crops and pastureland, and soot and charcoal indicate widespread fires. This change is in line with the development of fortified settlements and supports a model of resource-led growth, driven by amber and slave trade routes, at the core of the Piast state.
Although the Piasts were possibly not of Slavic paternal roots, their rule coincided with a population of deep local continuity. Further genetic studies, such as those carried out on Iron Age burials in Kowalewko, show that the population at large had been genetically stable for centuries. Mitochondrial DNA extracted from these cemeteries showed that although the female line was linked to Early Neolithic farming communities, the male line was similar to that of Jutlandic populations.
Cumulatively, these findings are in line with the Piast dynasty emerging from a foreign elite that was integrated into a long-established local population. Their rise was likely supported by favorable environmental conditions and access to lucrative trade routes, rather than just foreign conquest.
Mieszko was Polish and Slavic, so was the entire Piast Dynasty. Whether at some point some Scottish DNA slipped into the family because the Celts and Vikings were all over Europe at that time has zero relevance. Poland had a Swedish king, a Lithuanian king, and all of these families bred with one another. I’m sure that there are all sorts of genetics throughout Polish history such as Swedish, Norwegian, Lithuanian, and possibly even Scottish, in fact I have no doubt that we had Celts in our country’s history at some point because we’ve had so many others. If you go to Krakow you’ll see a giant Celtic-like burial mound in the city, so I don’t think that it’s much of a mystery that Celts were involved in Polish society at some point.
Lucas K, there is a debate in Scotland that the Picts aren’t Celtic but were Scythians. I wondered if that may be the link here sine the Scythians were in Poland. In Scotland the Picts built large tumuli ( burial grounds like you speak of in Poland) but so did the Scythians (Kurgans). The clincher for me is the red hair. Red hair is actually indicative of central Asian influence in the DNA pool. The highest concentration of red hair in the world is in Scotland but i understand that its common in Poland, Russia and Ukraine which shows a common ancestry.
Lucas, your theory is very sensible, as is the one presented in this article.
Early humans were more nomadic than we once thought. We now know lineages as widespread as Neandertal and Denisovan are found mixed up in the human genome. Recorded history is so very short. The first references to the inhabitants of Britain, known as Britons, appear in the writings of the Greek explorer Pytheas around 325 BC. The earliest known named person in recorded history is believed to be Kushim, who lived in Sumer around 3400-3000 BCE. The name appears on several Uruk period (c. 3400-3000 BC) clay tablets related to barley transactions, suggesting they were an accountant or record keeper. It is uncertain if the name refers to an individual, a generic title of an officeholder, or an institution.
It has great relevance in showing that the Piasts were rather outsiders than a local family of chieftains that rose to such power within one or two generations.
If they could have adopted a certain identity (let’s say “Slavic”) to rule in what is now Polish territory, it is a different issue to investigate than their ancestors’ origin. Such research allows us to ask new or deeper questions, and that makes it relevant already.
The oldest member of the dynasty, whose could be studied, was Zbigniew
(1070-1113), the elder son of Ladislaus Herman (1043-1102). He was found
to have the haplogroup Rla with the characteristic mutation M458, со indicating a local, Slavic origin. …
Thus, with the current state of knowledge, we can assume that the original, original haplogroup of the Piasts, starting from Mieszko I, and if one wishes even from the legendary Piast, was
haplogroup R1a-M458, indicating the native, Slavic origin of the dynasty.
The oldest Polish ruler in whom Prof Figlerowicz’s team found the British haplogroup R1b-A520 could possibly be Bolesław Krzywousty. This would be surprising, as his elder brother Zbigniew possessed the native haplogroup Rla. So everything points to the fact that
possibly they could have had different biological fathers. Something may be at work, as the birth of Boleslaw the Wrymouth was referred to
in Gall Anonim’s Chronicle as a “miracle”. It is known that for five years Vladislav Herman and his wife Judith of Bohemia could not wait for a descendant.
https://www.academia.edu/130007969/Czy_Piastowie_pochodzili_z_Wysp_Brytyjskich
If, and I do mean if, the origin of the first Polish Kings was of Scottish origins, one could argue that the first kings were actually Irish, as the Scots were an Irish people:)
Scots were from Ireland, Picts from Northeastern Scotland
There’s also a debate that the ancient celts of what is now Scotland i.e. the Picts also colonised Ireland rather than the other way around. The Gaelic celts of Ireland then recolonised Argyll and the southern hebrides from Northern part of Ireland creating the kingdom of Dalriada. There is no doubt Scottish DNA has found it’s way into Polish society in later years as Scots traded, settled and married into Polish society through the middle ages and 16th/17th Centuries.