Bite marks found on York skeleton hint at gladiator's fight with lion

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

- Ian Sample

While clashes between combatants, big cats and bears are described and depicted in ancient texts and mosaics, until now there has been no convincing proof from human remains that the skirmishes formed part of Roman entertainment.

"This is the first time we have physical evidence for gladiators fighting or being involved in a spectacle with big cats like lions in the Roman empire," said Prof Tim Thompson, an anthropologist at Maynooth University in Ireland and first author on the study.