She was not spared: Evidence of interpersonal violence on a Langobard female from the Ferrovia necropolis in Cividale, NE Italy (6th–7th century CE)

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to document and contextualize cranial trauma attributable to interpersonal violence in one Langobard individual from the Ferrovia necropolis in Cividale del Friuli (NE Italy). MATERIALS: The study examines one human skeleton: a middle-aged female dated between 590 and 630 CE. METHODS: Osteological and palaeopathological analyses were conducted to assess trauma, age-at-death, and activity-related markers. Sex estimation was confirmed through amelogenin analysis. RESULTS: The individual presents healed antemortem cranial lesions consistent with interpersonal violence: one sharp-force and one blunt-force. CONCLUSIONS: This case represents documented paleopathological evidence of interpersonal violence affecting a Langobard female. SIGNIFICANCE: The finding challenges assumptions regarding the exclusively male nature of interpersonal violence in Langobard society and provides a rare bioarchaeological correlate to legal and historical sources acknowledging female involvement in violent contexts. LIMITATIONS: The identification of interpersonal violence is constrained by preservation biases and the limited visibility of soft-tissue injuries in the skeletal record. Moreover, the interpretation of interpersonal violence from the cranium only is limiting. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: Future studies integrating palaeopathological, biomolecular, and contextual archaeological data across larger samples are needed to refine interpretations of violence and gender roles in Langobard populations.