Brutal lion attack 6,200 years ago severely injured teenager — but somehow he survived, skeleton found in Bulgaria reveals

A photo of the found skeletal remains in the dirt. The skeleton is lying on its left side, in the fetal position. .

Around 6,200 years ago, a teenage boy survived a brutal lion attack in what is now Bulgaria — although deep holes in the youngster's skull suggest his brain was badly damaged, a new study finds.

The 16- to-18-year-old may have been hunting when he encountered the lion (Panthera leo), according to the study, which was published Nov. 30 in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. Lions roamed what is now Eastern Europe in the Copper Age (4500 to 3500 B.C.), and cut marks on lion bones from prehistoric settlements on the Black Sea coast suggest humans occasionally ate them.