Forced to fight animals and each other for entertainment, gladiators loom large in the public imagination of the Roman Empire.
But while there's plenty of Roman writing and art about gladiators, their bodily remains are rare.
Now, a team of archaeologists has found what they claim to be the body of a gladiator who was bitten by an animal while — or just after — he died.
The skeleton, from third-century Britain, has bite marks from a big cat such as a lion or tiger, according to a study published in PLOS One today.
Study lead author Tim Thompson, a researcher at Maynooth University in Ireland, said there were very few confirmed gladiator remains across the former Roman Empire.
"We believe this to be the first example that a bite mark has been identified on such remains."
York's 'gladiator graveyard'
The skeleton was one of more than 80 excavated from a site discovered outside the UK city of York in 2004.
The bodies date from the first or early second century AD, to the late fourth century AD. During this time, York was an important military garrison and city in the Roman Empire.
Almost all of the skeletons found at the site were male, aged from 18 to 45 years at time of death. Chemical signatures in the bones suggest several of the men hailed from distant parts of the empire.
The bodies were riddled with injuries — some had healed, while others were sustained when they died. Many of the bodies had also been decapitated from behind, which may be a sign of execution.
While they can't be certain, archaeologists believe that the burial site may be a gladiator cemetery, based on the demographics of the bodies and the evidence around them.
Gladiator skeleton with big cat bite marks
The researchers used 3D scanning to look closely at one of the skeletons, a man who lived between AD 200 — 300.
The man had been decapitated, but he also had curious round marks along his hip bones.
The team scanned the marks and compared them to those made by zoo animals chewing bones.
Bite marks made by cheetahs, lions, tigers and leopards resembled the man's marks very closely.
Professor Thompson said that the hip bite marks are unlikely to be evidence of the injury that killed the victim.
But he believed the injuries occurred at the time of death, with an animal dragging the man along the ground.
"If a fatal injury involved the soft tissues, this wouldn't be seen on the skeleton," Professor Thompson said.
The researchers suggested that the victim's decapitation happened after the animal attack — either to "put him out of his misery", or to follow custom.
Ray Laurence, a Roman historian at Macquarie University who wasn't involved in the research, said that the study presented "pretty compelling" evidence.
"It's a great detective story in terms of working out that a big cat was present," Professor Laurence said.
"The presence of big cats in Roman Britain is quite remarkable."
With just one example, it's difficult to tell how widespread gladiator remains with animal marks may be.
Romans preferred to cremate their dead for long swathes of the empire's history, switching to burial in later centuries. This makes it harder to find Roman remains.
But Professor Laurence suggested that this discovery might prompt other archaeologists to look at known specimens more closely.
"The publication may lead to more going: 'I saw that and we never got around to publishing it, and we put it in a storeroom.'"
