Ancient Roman gladiators were often pitted against animals in the arena—animals capable of killing a human being. Skeletal remains in a Roman burial ground in northern England were found to have lesions that looked suspiciously like bite marks.

A man who lived in Roman-occupied Britain was bitten by a big cat, probably in a gladiator arena, an analysis of his remains has revealed

Bite marks found on the skeleton of a Roman gladiator are the first archaeological evidence of combat between a human and a lion, experts say. The remains were discovered during a 2004 dig at Driffield Terrace, in York, a site now thought to be the world's only well-preserved Roman gladiator cemetery.