The two sampled individuals come from discrete medieval contexts in southeastern and northeastern Albania: Shtikë on the Kolonja Plateau (Southeastern) and Kënetë in the Kukës District (Northeastern). Archaeological data indicate these are cemetery-related burials dated by associated stratigraphy and radiocarbon or typological parallels to the period 773–989 CE, a century of shifting political horizons in the western Balkans as Byzantine influence, local principalities, and migratory pressures met across mountain passes.
Landscape and material traces place these people on a stage shaped by valleys, transhumant routes, and fortified lowlands. Limited evidence suggests local continuity of settlement from late antiquity into the early medieval period, with adaptations in burial orientation and grave goods reflecting both local custom and wider Balkan practices. The cinematic silhouette of shepherds, farmers, and travelers moving between upland pastures and market towns is reconstructed from pottery scatters, simple metal objects, and the graves themselves.
Because we are working with only two genomes, any narrative of population movement, cultural ancestry, or social change must remain cautious. These individuals are touchstones — evocative glimpses rather than definitive chapters — that nonetheless anchor genetic data into named places and dates: Shtikë and Kënetë, 8th–10th centuries CE.
