A lion’s bite has confirmed the death of a gladiator in an ancient Roman arena – revealing a brutal spectacle far beyond the Colosseum.
Archaeologists have found the first physical evidence of gladiatorial combat between a human and a lion, thanks to bite marks on a skeleton discovered in a Roman cemetery in York, UK.
The 1,800-year-old remains belonged to a man believed to be a Bestiarius, a type of gladiator who fought wild animals.
The discovery confirms the presence of exotic animals in Roman Britain’s arenas, reshaping our understanding of entertainment in the empire’s outer territories.
Researchers say the find is as significant as uncovering a piece of the Colosseum – just hundreds of miles from Rome.