It was found on the outskirts of York, England
Scientists discovered the first skeleton of a gladiator with bones in the bone caused by the bite of a large feline – probably a lion – over 1,800 years, in an archaeological site located around York, England.
Everything that is known about the struggles between Roman gladiators and wild beasts comes from the texts and artistic representations of the time, epic battles that cinema and literature have always recreated. However, no evidence of these shows had been found so far.
The discovery, released on Wednesday in a study published in, not only proves the existence of these shows, but also confirms that these brutal fun were also held in distant territories of the Empire and not just in the Colosseum in Rome.
The skeleton was discovered on the archaeological site of Driffield Terrace, located next to the Roman road from the city of Eboracum (present -day York) to Tadcaster.
In 2004, scientists began to dig the site and, in 2010, began to examine the 82 male skeletons that were buried in this Roman cemetery, between 200 and 300 AD
The investigation, conducted by an international team of archaeologists and osteologists led by Tim Thompson, professor of anthropology at Maynooth University in Ireland, found that remains belonged to well-constituted young people who suffered frequent trauma, the EFE agency reported on Wednesday.
One of the skeletons, from a man between 26 and 35, was buried in a grave with two other individuals and covered with horse bones.
The analysis revealed that, in life, man suffered from problems in the back caused by excessive use, inflammation of a lung and thigh damage. In addition, as a child, he suffered from malnutrition, from which he recovered later.
In the pelvic bone, the investigators found a mark of a lion incisor – which was compared and corresponded to the bite of a zoo lion – which had not healed and was probably the cause of death.
For Thompson, “this discovery is the first direct physical evidence that such events occurred during this period, which changes our perception of the culture of Roman entertainment in the region.”
By studying the other skeletons and tooth enamel, the team found that they came from a wide variety of Roman provinces from around the world and that their deaths were consistent with gladiator combat.
In addition, they all had particularly strong constitutions, the result of training and a large number of healed injuries associated with violence, suggesting that buried men were Beastarius, a type of gladiator trained by volunteers or slaves.
“The bite marks were probably done by a lion, confirming that skeletons buried in the cemetery were gladiators, not soldiers or slaves, as was thought initially,” Malin Holst, researcher at York University and co -author of the study.
Britain was occupied by the Romans from the first century to the fifth century, and the Roman city of Eboraucum is known to have welcomed gladiator competitions until the fourth century DC, probably because many high-level generals and politicians lived there, including Constantine, who was made emperor in 306 CD
This “extremely exciting” discovery allows “starting to build a better image of what these gladiators were like in life,” Holst stressed.
For David Jennings, director-general of York Archaeology, the study “offers an extraordinary view on the life and death of this individual in particular and contributes to the previous genomic investigation and ongoing the origins of some of the men burned in this Roman cemetery.”
