The Man with a Knife for a Hand (Lombard Italy, Late 6th Century)
Summary
This episode explores the Longobard migration to Italy using ancient DNA and isotopic analysis to identify migrants from Pannonia. Host Patrick Wyman discusses the cemetery at Povegliano Veronese, focusing on T380, a warrior who survived a hand amputation and lived with a knife prosthetic. By comparing skeletal remains from Pannonia and Italy, the show reveals how these groups formed a distinct identity through shared trauma and new burial customs, such as interring headless horses. The analysis confirms that the Longobards were real migrants who moved to escape violence and poverty, solidi…
Topics discussed
Narrative: The amputation of Droktul
Intro: The problem of barbarian identities
Limitations of texts and traditional archaeology
New tools: aDNA and isotopic analysis
The Povegliano Veronese cemetery discovery
Evidence of migration: isotopes and weapons
Confirming the Longobard migration
Origins and ethnogenesis of the Longobards
Early burials and the focal point
T380: The man with the knife prosthesis
T380's origins: Isotopic evidence
T19: A contemporary warrior's life
The migrant group at Povegliano
Solad, Hungary: The pre-migration site
Push factors: Life in Pannonia
Pull factors and historical accounts of invasion
Motivations for the migration
Defining Longobard identity
Outro and credits
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