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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;daveydempsey, post: 10361694, member: 22&quot;]<font size="6"><b>Bite marks on York skeleton reveal first evidence of ‘gladiators’ fighting lions.</b></font></p><p><font size="6"><br /></font></p><p><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/23/bite-marks-on-york-skeleton-reveal-first-evidence-of-gladiators-fighting-lions" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/23/bite-marks-on-york-skeleton-reveal-first-evidence-of-gladiators-fighting-lions" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/23/bite-marks-on-york-skeleton-reveal-first-evidence-of-gladiators-fighting-lions</a></b></font></p><p><font size="6"><br /></font></p><p><font size="6"><b>Bite marks from a lion on a man’s skeleton, excavated from a 1,800-year-old cemetery on the outskirts of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/york" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/york" rel="nofollow">York</a>, provide the first physical evidence of human-animal combat in the Roman empire, new research claims.</b></font></p><p><font size="6"><br /></font></p><p><font size="6"><b>While clashes between combatants, big cats and bears are described and depicted in ancient texts and mosaics, there had previously been no convincing proof from human remains to confirm that these skirmishes formed part of Roman entertainment.</b></font></p><p><font size="6"><br /></font></p><p><font size="6"><br /></font></p><p><font size="6"><b>Prof Tim Thompson, an anthropologist and first author on the study at Maynooth University in Ireland, said: “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.”</b></font></p><p><font size="6"><br /></font></p><p><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/17/british-rebellion-against-roman-legions-caused-by-drought-research-finds" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/17/british-rebellion-against-roman-legions-caused-by-drought-research-finds" rel="nofollow"></a></b></font></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><b>Excavations at the Driffield Terrace burial site, near York city centre, began more than 20 years ago and uncovered about 80 decapitated skeletons. Most belonged to well-built young men and bore signs of brutal violence, leading experts to suspect they had uncovered a gladiator graveyard.</b></font></p><p><font size="6"></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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