Bite Marks on Roman Skeleton Unveil Gladiator Battles with Big Cats in Ancient England
Bite marks discovered on a Roman skeleton unearthed in York, England, constitute the first physical evidence that gladiators fought against big cats during the Roman Empire, according to Science Focus. The find confirms that the skeletons buried at the Driffield Terrace cemetery were indeed gladiators rather than soldiers or slaves.
The skeleton belonged to a man aged between 26 and 35, who appears to have met a gruesome end in the arena. Researchers identified bite marks on his pelvis as those of a large cat, believed to be a lion, suggesting he likely died from injuries sustained during gladiatorial combat with the animal. Afterward, the man seems to have been decapitated, a practice observed in Roman burials, though the reason for this remains unclear.
“This is a hugely exciting find,” said Malin Holst, a lecturer in osteoarchaeology at the University of York and managing director of York Osteoarchaeology, according to Science Focus. “We can now start to build a better image of what these gladiators were like in life, and it also confirms the presence of large cats, and potentially other exotic animals, in arenas in cities such as York, and how they too had to defend themselves from the threat of death.”
The evidence comes from a Roman cemetery in York, known as one of the best-preserved gladiator cemeteries in the Roman world. Located along the Roman road leading out of the ancient city of Eboracum (modern-day York), excavations that began in 2004 at Driffield Terrace have unearthed more than 80 young, strongly built male skeletons.
“For years, our understanding of Roman gladiatorial combat and animal spectacles has relied heavily on historical texts and artistic depictions,” said Tim Thompson, a forensic anthropologist from Maynooth University in Ireland and lead author of the study published in PLOS ONE, according to Reuters. “This discovery represents the first piece of archaeological forensic evidence that man versus lion matches occurred during the Roman Empire, reshaping our perception of Roman entertainment culture.”
Researchers compared the bite marks on the skeleton to sample bites from a lion at a zoo and determined they matched. “Here we can see puncture and scalloping, indicative of large dentition piercing through the soft tissues and into the bone,” Thompson said. The bite marks, which showed no signs of healing, are believed to have been the cause of death.
John Pearce, a Roman archaeologist at King’s College London and co-author of the study, noted that gladiatorial spectacles involving wild animals were not limited to major cities of the Roman Empire but extended into its provinces. “Predatory animals—above all big cats but also sometimes other animals, for example bears—were pitted as combatants against specialist gladiators, known as venatores,” he said.
At the time, York was an imperial centre, home to senior Roman generals and even Constantine the Great, who declared himself emperor in the city in 306 CE. Though no amphitheater has yet been discovered in York, historical evidence suggests that the city hosted arena events into the fourth century CE.
The remains of the man show evidence of spinal abnormalities perhaps caused by overloading to his back, as well as dental diseases and signs of physical strain, possibly from intense training. Tooth enamel analysis revealed that these individuals came from across the Roman Empire.
“We may never know what brought this man to the arena where we believe he may have been fighting for the entertainment of others, but it is remarkable that the first osteoarchaeological evidence for this kind of gladiatorial combat has been found so far from the Colosseum of Rome,” said David Jennings, CEO of York Archaeology, according to Science Focus.
The discovery not only sheds light on the life and death of this individual but also broadens our understanding of Roman gladiatorial practices in provincial cities like York. Scenes of deadly combat between gladiators and lions have been portrayed in stories, paintings, and mosaics, but until now, there had been no direct physical evidence of such encounters in ancient Rome.
“This is a reminder of the spectacle culture central to Roman public life,” Pearce said. “This new analysis gives us very concrete and specific evidence of a human-animal violent encounter, either as combat or punishment, showing that the big cats caught in North Africa were shown and fought not only in Rome or Italy but also surprisingly widely, even if we don’t know how frequently.”
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
