REMAINS OF ROMAN GLADIATORS EXCAVATED IN NORTHERN ENGLAND

DOZENS OF HEADLESS SKELETONS EXCAVATED FROM A NORTHERN ENGLISH BUILDING SITE APPEAR TO BE THE REMAINS OF ROMAN GLADIATORS, ONE OF WHOM HAD BITES FROM A LION, TIGER BEAR OR OTHER LARGE ANIMAL, ARCHAEOLOGISTS SAID MONDAY. EXPERTS SAID NEW FORENSIC EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THE BONES BELONG TO THE PROFESSIONAL FIGHTERS, WHO WERE OFTEN KILLED WHILE ENTERTAINING SPECTATORS. MOST OF THE SKELETONS WERE MALE AND APPEARED STRONGER AND TALLER THAN THE AVERAGE ROMAN, WITH SIGNS OF ARM-MUSCLE STRESS THAT SUGGEST WEAPONS TRAINING THAT BEGAN IN THE MEN'S TEENAGE YEARS. THE TEAM INVESTIGATING THE REMAINS SAID THAT ONE OF THE BEST CLUES WAS CARNIVORE TOOTH MARKS FOUND ON THE HIP AND SHOULDER OF ONE OF THE SKELETONS. 'THE PRESENCE OF BITE MARKS IS ONE OF THE STRONGEST PIECES OF EVIDENCE SUGGESTING AN ARENA CONNECTION. IT WOULD SEEM HIGHLY UNLIKELY THAT THIS INDIVIDUAL WAS ATTACKED BY A TIGER AS HE WAS WALKING HOME', SAID MICHAEL WYSOCKI, A LECTURER IN FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGY WHO STUDIED THE SKELETONS. THE BITES WERE BELIEVED TO HAVE CAUSED THE PERSON'S DEATH, HE SAID. YORK, ABOUT 200 MILES NORTH OF LONDON, WAS ONE OF THE LARGEST CITIES IN ROMAN BRITAIN, AND EXPERTS BELIEVE BANDS OF GLADIATORS TOURING THE ROMAN EMPIRE OCCASIONALLY TRAVELED TO THE CITY TO PUT ON FIGHTING SHOWS. WYSOCKI SAID GLADIATORS WERE OFTEN BEHEADED AS AN ACT OF MERCY AFTER SUFFERING HORRIFIC INJURIES DURING THEIR FIGHTS. ALL OF THE SKELETONS WERE BURIED WITH POTTERY, ANIMALS OR OTHER OFFERINGS, SUGGESTING THEY WERE RESPECTED PEOPLE, NOT CRIMINALS. BUT SOME EXPERTS SAID MORE EVIDENCE WAS NEEDED TO PROVE THAT THE YORK BURIAL SITE WAS EXCLUSIVELY FOR GLADIATORS. THE YORK ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST SAID THAT THE BURIAL GROUND WAS NOT THE FIRST OF ITS KIND TO BE UNCOVERED BUT IT WAS AMONG THE BEST PRESERVED. THE ONLY OTHER COMPARABLE GLADIATOR CEMETERY IS IN EPHESUS, TURKEY, SAID WYSOCKI. THE HUMAN REMAINS FOUND THERE WERE FRAGMENTED AND NOT AS COMPLETE AS THOSE UNEARTHED IN YORK HE ADDED. ARCHAEOLOGISTS STUMBLED UPON THE YORK SKELETONS IN 2003, WHEN THEY WERE ASSESSING AN AREA FOR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT. THE SITE WAS PART OF A LARGE CEMETERY ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE ROMAN TOWN. AN EXCAVATION PROJECT FOLLOWED, EVENTUALLY UNCOVERING 80 ROMAN SKELETONS, INCLUDING 23 THAT WERE FOUND IN A LOCAL RESIDENT'S BACK GARDEN. THE REMAINS WERE BELIEVED TO DATE FROM THE LATE 1st CENTURY TO THE 4tH CENTURY AD.