Gladiators

I try not to watch the news too much lately - let's face it, there's rarely much to cheer about, but I did notice a fascinating snippet hidden away on Sky News' website today. Apparently skeletal remains have been discovered in a cemetery in York. Nothing new there I know. What's interesting, however, is that the cemetery is thought to contain the bones of gladiators from the Roman Empire around the third century AD.

That in itself is fascinating but what really piques the interest is that academics say that teeth marks found in the pelvis of the skeleton appear to have come from a lion. This has been ascertained by comparing the teeth marks to modern zoological teeth marks. If this is indeed the case, then it is in all likelihood the first definitive proof that gladiators were forced to fight lions in the arena. Such duels have been depicted on pottery and mosaics discovered over the years suggesting that such things were likely to have happened, but this would be the first concrete proof. As lions have never been native to our country it would also suggest that the Romans were adept at moving such creatures around their vast Empire, from its very southern tip to its northern most fringe.

Its fantastic and exciting that old towns and cities like York with a rich historical background, are still divulging their secrets hundreds and even thousands of years later.

Long may it continue.