Populations from two medieval sites in Central Poland, Stary Brześć Kujawski-4 (SBK-4) and Gruczno, represented high level of lactase persistence (LP) as followed by the LCT-13910*T allele’s presence (0.86 and 0.82, respectively). It was twice as high as in contemporaneous Cedynia (0.4) and Śródka (0.43), both located outside the region, higher than in modern inhabitants of Poland (0.51) and almost as high as in modern Swedish population (0.9). In an attempt to explain the observed differences its frequency changes in time were followed between the Middle Neolithic and the Late Middle Ages in successive dairying populations on a relatively small area (radius ∼60km) containing the two sites. The introduction of the T allele to Kuyavia 7.4 Ka BP by dairying LBK people is not likely, as suggested by the obtained data. It has not been found in any of Neolithic samples dated between 6.3 and 4.5 Ka BP. The identified frequency profile indicates that both the introduction and the beginning of selection could have taken place approx. 4 millennia after first LBK people arrived in the region, shifting the value of LP frequency from 0 to more than 0.8 during less than 130 generations. We hypothesize that the selection process of the T allele was rather rapid, starting just after its introduction into already milking populations and operated via high rates of fertility and mortality on children after weaning through life-threatening conditions, favoring lactose-tolerant individuals. Facing the lack of the T allele in people living on two great European Neolithization routes, the Danubian and Mediterranean ones, and based on its high frequency in northern Iberia, its presence in Scandinavia and estimated occurrence in Central Poland, we propose an alternative Northern Route of its spreading as very likely. None of the successfully identified nuclear alleles turned out to be deltaF508 CFTR.

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Polymorphisms within genes coding innate immune response proteins are involved in genetic susceptibility to various conditions. We investigated the frequency of P2RX7 A1513C and TLR2 -196 to -174 ins/del polymorphisms in healthy Polish population. Frequency of minor alleles was relatively similar to the pattern presented by Caucasian populations while it differed significantly when compared to non-European populations, which could be a result of variable selection pressure put upon studied alleles or hindered gene flow between populations.

Contemporary historical anthropology and classical archaeology are concerned not only with such fundamental issues as the origins of ancient human populations and migration routes, but also with the formation and development of inter-population relations and the mixing of gene pools as a result of inter-breeding between individuals representing different cultural units. The contribution of immigrants to the analysed autochthonous population and their effect on the gene pool of that population has proven difficult to evaluate with classical morphological methods. The burial of one individual in the studied Napole cemetery located in central Poland had the form of a chamber grave, which is typical of Scandinavian culture from that period. However, this fact cannot be interpreted as absolute proof that the individual (in the biological sense) was allochtonous. This gives rise to the question as to who was actually buried in that cemetery. The ancient DNA results indicate that one of the individuals had an mtDNA haplotype typical of Iron Age northern Europe, which suggests that he could have arrived from that area at a later period. This seems to indirectly confirm the claims of many anthropologists that the development of the early medieval Polish state was significantly and directly influenced by the Scandinavians.