The skeleton of a woman who survived a brutal attack 1,400 years ago has been found in Italy

Most importantly, the woman didn't die instantly. The healing marks show that she survived the attack and lived for some time afterwards. This means that she was probably helped, or at least remained part of her community.

The woman lived among the Lombards, a people who ruled part of Italy in the early Middle Ages. They are often associated with wars and weapons, but archaeologists have previously only found such clear signs of violence on male skeletons. The new find shows: violence may not have affected only men.

Details

The skeleton was found in the Ferrovia necropolis in the town of Cividale del Friuli in north-eastern Italy. The site is associated with the Lombards, a Germanic people who came to Italy in the 6th century and established their kingdom there.

The study is published in the International Journal of Paleopathology.

The skeleton was poorly preserved: some of the bones were damaged by later burials. Therefore, it was difficult to determine the sex only by the shape of the bones. Scientists used protein analysis, which confirmed that the remains belonged to a woman.

Two injuries were found on her skull. The first looked like a narrow cut on her forehead, the kind of wound a long knife or other blade might have left. The second looked like a depressed fracture caused by blunt force trauma, like a rock or something flat and heavy.

Both injuries were serious, but not fatal. The bone has begun to heal, which means the woman survived the attack. This is an important detail: this is not just a trace of violent death, but the story of a man who was badly injured and lived on.

Previously, among the Lombard skeletons studied, traces of such injuries were found in men. This case is therefore the first direct skeletal evidence that a woman in this society could also have been the victim of a brutal attack.

Scientists don't say she was a warrior. It is impossible to tell from the bones exactly what happened: it could have been a fight, an assault, domestic violence, armed conflict or another episode. The skeleton shows the mere fact of injury, but does not give the full scene of the event.

Why it matters

This finding changes an all too simple picture of the past. If previously it seemed from the bones that Lombard violence mainly concerned men, it is now clear: women too could have been involved in or victimised by such events.

But this does not mean that women participated in battles en masse. One skeleton does not prove the existence of "women warriors" among the Lombards. It shows another thing: the archaeological picture may be incomplete, because not all kinds of violence leave traces on the bones.

For example, blows, beatings or domestic violence often damage soft tissue but not the skeleton. After 1,400 years, such marks simply don't survive. That's why archaeologists are more likely to see only the most severe injuries - fractures, cuts to bones, and skull wounds.

Background

The Langobards were a people who came to Italy in the early Middle Ages and established their kingdom there. The word "Lombardy" is associated with them, but the find was not made in modern-day Lombardy, but in north-eastern Italy, in Cividale del Friuli.

In historical sources, the Lombards were often described as a warlike society. Archaeologists have found weapons in male burials, and some male skeletons show signs of conflict injuries. So for a long time it might have seemed that violence was almost exclusively a "male" part of life.

But the written laws of the Lombards also mentioned attacks on women. This means that the topic of female vulnerability or women's involvement in conflict was known to the society itself. The new find provides the first physical confirmation of this at the bone level.

Source

Study: Paola Saccheri et al, "She was not spared: Evidence of interpersonal violence on a Langobard female from the Ferrovia necropolis in Cividale, NE Italy (6th-7th century CE)", International Journal of Paleopathology, 2026.