Jim McMahon/Mapman®
Movies about ancient Rome often show gladiators fighting lions in packed arenas. For centuries, we only had written accounts and ancient artwork to show that these battles took place. There was no concrete evidence—until now.
This past spring, scientists announced that bite marks found on the skeleton of a gladiator likely came from a lion. “It’s the only physical evidence that gladiators fought animals,” says anthropologist Tim Thompson.
The skeleton was unearthed in 2004 in a gladiator cemetery in York, England. It dates back about 1,800 years. Around that time, the Roman Empire spanned much of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
The empire’s gladiators fought with spears and swords. But the marks on the skeleton didn’t match up with those weapons. So Thompson’s team compared them with bones chewed by animals. They concluded that a lion had bitten the gladiator. The wound likely didn’t kill the fighter, Thompson says. Instead, he thinks the gladiator was already injured when the lion bit him and dragged his body away.
Researchers say the finding highlights that there is still more to discover about the Roman Empire. For example, could there be a gladiator arena hiding below the surface in York?
—Alicia Green