Bone analysis proves gladiators fought lions in Britain

Maynooth University anthropologists confirm that Roman gladiators battled wild animals — the 'sport' considerably impacted the population of North African big cats

A skeleton from a Roman cemetery outside of York had unusual lesions. Investigation, including comparative work from modern zoological institutions, demonstrates that these marks originate from large cat scavenging — now thought to be the first physical evidence for human-animal gladiatorial combat from the Roman period seen anywhere in Europe. Pictured: Paul Mescal in Gladiator II; Marble relief with lion and gladiator © The Trustees of the British Museum; bite marks on the pelvic bone of a man known as '6DT19' who died almost 2,000 years ago.

Wild beast ‘hunts’ were a ‘feature attraction’ at Rome’s Flavian Amphitheatre, the Colosseum:

 — Mosaics and pottery decorations depict fights between gladiators and animals.