Bite marks on York skeleton reveal first evidence of ‘gladiators’ fighting lions

Bone fragments with lion bite marks, alongside a Roman relief of a gladiator battling a lion. Composite: Unique osteological evidence for human-animal gladiatorial combat in Roman Britain

Bite marks from a lion on a man’s skeleton, excavated from a 1,800-year-old cemetery on the outskirts of York, provide the first physical evidence of human-animal combat in the Roman empire, new research claims.

While clashes between combatants, big cats and bears are described and depicted in ancient texts and mosaics, there had previously been no convincing proof from human remains to confirm that these skirmishes formed part of Roman entertainment.