This is what the first wave of Islam in Girona was like: men, children, and European converts

BarcelonaWho were the members of the first wave of Islamic migration to Girona? They weren't soldiers with a thirst for conquest, but rather family groups who came from various parts of North Africa, the Arab world, and even Europe. This is one of the findings of the first genetic study of the remains from the 8th-century Islamic necropolis on Carrer Galligants in Girona, discovered in 2016 during excavations to renovate the building that had been the former Hospital dels Capellans and now houses the Aqva Gerunda baths. The area served as a cemetery for 200 years, from the first quarter of the 8th century until the first quarter of the 10th century.

The lands of Girona were under Islamic rule for nearly seventy years. The Muslim invasion of Hispania began at the beginning of the 8th century, and, in contrast to the complete collapse of Visigothic power, the expansion was very rapid. In Girona, as in many other places, there was no resistance. Seventy years later, Djarunda, as it was known under Islam, was conquered by the Frankish Empire. "One of the most surprising findings is that Muslims and Christians were buried in the same cemetery. They aren't mixed together, but they are practically touching," says Eulàlia Subirà, a professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), who led the study with Cláudia Gomes of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). Of the thirteen bodies found, eight were buried according to Islamic tradition. The graves were narrower and deeper, covered with stones and tiles, and the individuals were buried directly in the ground. They were laid on their right side, with their arms and legs semi-flexed, and their faces oriented towards the southwest. All of them were related; most were cousins or half-sisters. The remaining five were buried according to Christian tradition and will also be studied genetically. One of the mysteries that may be answered is whether Christians and Muslims were related. Among the individuals buried according to Islamic rite are four children: the youngest, a baby of only six weeks, and one girl. One of the adults buried facing Mecca had a European genetic origin. The work has also revealed a peculiar demographic pattern: there are no adult women. The explanation, according to the researchers, could be that female burials took place elsewhere. Only a portion of the necropolis has been excavated, and its dimensions are unknown because it is an urbanized area. Another possibility is that the mortality rate was higher among men and boys. The oldest individual buried there had multiple injuries.

The oldest remains belong to a man who died at a considerable age and survived multiple traumas consistent with hand-to-hand combat. He is the only one with signs of violence and might appear to have been a soldier who came alone, but he is related to other individuals buried at the same site. One of the researchers' hypotheses is that the burial was not random, but rather followed a social or familial logic.

The study constitutes the first systematic analysis of a medieval Muslim community in northern Catalonia, and the data confirm a diverse population composition, with North African, Eastern, and European contributions, as well as a significant presence of children. The results challenge the exclusively military view of the Islamic arrival in the Iberian Peninsula and suggest complex migrations with familial, religious, and cultural dimensions.