DNA study of the Piast Dynasty of early Poland

On June 2, 2025, Prof. Marek Figlerowicz’s team from the Polish Academy of Sciences announced that the early Polish Piast dynasty belongs to the Y-DNA haplogroup R1b1a1b1a1a2c1a1f, also known as the R1b-S747 branch. 

While we await the peer-reviewed and published verification of these facts, let's discuss what we currently know.

The R1b-S747 mutation is estimated to be approximately 2,000 years old, placing its origin between 500 BCE and 500 CE. This particular subclade is closely related to the Picts and Dalriadan Gaels, as found in the regions of Argyll, Perthshire, and Moray in the Highlands of the northern British Isles. Please note that these groups are not considered Scotts.

The finding is significant, as there were approximately 30 ruling Piast members from Mieszko I (d. 992) to Kazimierz III (d. 1370), and over 180 notable noble names. The Piast dynasty is culturally bound to the essence of what Poland is.

Image: Mieszko I, the first Polish Christian ruler, by master painter Jan Matejko. 

By the ninth century, the Piast dynasty had established itself as Slavic rulers in the heart of Poland, including their legendary progenitors from earlier centuries, such as:
- Piast Kołodziej, "the caretaker wheelwright";
- Siemowit, "the family leader";
- Lestek, "the cunning"; and
- Siemomysł, "the thoughtful of the family". 
Both the legend of Piast and the names suggest native and local Polish origin.

Despite the legendary Slavic origins, the Piast R1b-S747 is extremely rare in Slavic countries. 

In contrast, which makes the matter highly controversial in Poland: most Slavic people belong to a different paternal haplogroup, R1a, which comprises up to 60% of:
- the Sorbs (Western Slavs in today's eastern Germany),
- Pomeranians (Western Slavs in today's Poland),

- Kashubians (Western Slavs in today's Poland),

- Poland (Western Slavs core)
- and most Eastern Slavs, including those from Ukraine and the Slavic parts of the Moscow territory.

Please keep in mind that many north-western European R1b people had moved south during the medieval Great Migration period caused by the volcanic eruption of 536 AD, which plunged temperatures up to 2.5°C into the worst mini-ice age in the previous 2000 years. Altogether, as many as 13 large tribal groups, notably the Goths, moved through Europe in the 6th century.

This is likely when some of the (cold and hungry) Picts or Gaelic Piast ancestors moved about 850 miles southeast.  Commuting was a common thing even back then, which turned into the Viking era. In fact, the Old Norse "víkingr" or "fara í víking" meant "to go on an expedition or raid by sea".

I know I lump the Picts and Gaelic people with the activities associated with the Scandinavians, but as we will learn, even Western Slavs were doing much Viking back then.

The rest of this post is not intended to restate what others have written; it is my personal perspective.

I have always wondered why the Vikings, while conquering: 

- France (won Normandy), 

- England, and the surrounding northern islands

- Irland, 

- Scandinavia, 

- northern Germanic lands, 

- Russia, 

- all the way to Byzantium (Istanbul) to the east, 

- Iceland, 

- Greenland, 

- and America to the west. 

Never conquered Poland.  After all, Poland offered fertile land with a good climate, which Scandinavia lacked, and access to the profitable amber trade routes.

The pre-Christian information is scarce by design. 

Indeed, even in the story of the Piast dynasty, as told in the Chronica Polonorum, the Christian author Gallus Anonymus writes that he will not mention the accomplishments of the Piast ancestors in their heathen times, but focuses instead on the merits of the present Christian rulers:

“De primis namque Polonorum principibus, qui ante Christianitatem gentem rexerunt, quia nec morum honestate nec fidei gratia commendabantur, silentio pretereundum duxi, ne scilicet gesta Christianorum principum, quorum fides et religio prædicanda sunt, commixtione vel comparatione quorumcumque paganorum turpitudinum dehonestentur.”

In English:

“As for the earliest rulers of the Poles, who governed the people before its Christianization, I have decided to pass over them in silence, for they are not to be commended either for upright conduct or for the grace of faith. I do this so that the deeds of the Christian princes, whose faith and piety should be extolled, may not be dishonored by being mixed or compared with the shameful acts of any pagans.”

An interaction existed between Western Slavs and the Vikings before it could be documented in chronicles. 

There were the trading ports on the island of Wolin (Polish and German W is pronounced V), also known as Vineta or Jómsborg, which were under Vendish rule. 

The Vends (Polish "Wendowie" pronounced with V, German "Wenden", plural of Wende, Scandinavian Venedi, Vinðr) was a name given to the West Slavic peoples, including the:
- Obotrites,
- Veleti (later known as Lutici),
- Rani (located on the island of Rügen),
- Polabians,
- and Pomeranians.
They worshiped Slavic gods, such as Svantovit, Triglav, and Rugevit, in temples in Arkona (on Rügen) and Radogoszcz/Rethra (in Mecklenburg) until the Christian Wendish Crusade in 1147 (RIP).

Additionally, some Danish islands were under the same Vendish influence, resulting in a multitude of town names starting with "Vinde..." Vindeby (literally “Wendish town”) or ending with "...itse" or "...idse" (e.g., Lolland island Korselitse = Korszelice), which may indicate a Slavic settlement with abundant archeological artefacts to support it.

There was also the port city of Truso (Elbląg, Poland), where Viking, Slavic, and Baltic tribes engaged in trade.

There are legends that Świętosława (also known as Sigrid), the daughter of Mieszko I, the first Christian ruler of Poland, was the wife of Eric the Victorious, King of Sweden, and later of Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark and Norway, and that she was the mother of Knut, the conqueror of England. 

Considering the above, the relationship between the Vikings and Poland may have been significant. 

There are also other stories of Vendic and Polish rulers sending hundreds of longships and burning Hamburg, at least once, in 1030.

We know that the ruling class in Russia originated with Rurik, a Swedish Norseman in Novgorod around 862 AD. 

However, Polish dynastic history might have taken a different, earlier path, where, by the time of Viking voyages, Poland and the Venedi influences were already established, familiar, and too powerful to bother.

R1b-P312 (~4200 ybp)  ← Western & Celtic Europe  

├── R1b-L21 (Insular Celtic, ~4000 ybp)  

│   └── R1b-L1335 ("Scottish Highland cluster", ~2800–3000 ybp)  

│       └── R1b-S747 Mazovian Piast remains (~2000–2500 ybp)  

│           ├── Argyll, Perthshire, and Moray: Gaelic and Pictish 

│           └── Very rare in Poland, virtually absent elsewhere  

│

└── R1b-U152 (Continental Celtic / La Tène, ~4000 ybp)  

    ├── Central Europe: Boii, Helvetii, Etruscans  

    ├── Found in Switzerland, northern Italy, Bohemia, SE France  

    ├── Linked to Roman legions and Gallic tribes  

    └── ~3–5% in Poland today (especially Silesia, Galicia)  

By the way, Polish Galicia was also populated by Celtic people around ~400 BCE to 100 BCE, but typical Y-DNA was R1b-U152, indicating a different continental Celtic group.

References:

1. Scientific conference in Poznań on June 2,  2025, Prof. Marek Figlerowicz: Piast line belongs to Y‑DNA haplogroup R1b‑L1335 (labeled R1b1a1b1a1a2c1a1f in ISOGG notation)
2. DNA reveals Poland’s first kings
3. Magnus Haroldson czyli Piastowie z Wysp Brytyjskich
4. Figlerowicz 2025a,
5. Figlerowicz 2025b,
6. Zdziebłowski 2025
7. Kowalski 2017