One can go to posterity for many reasons. For writing a great novel, composing a symphony, being an influential politician, A pioneer or even commit some misdeed or error to forget. In the former Roman Britain, however, a young man lived, from no more than 35 yearswhich will be remembered for something very different: a bite. To be more precise the denttellada of a lion in the middle of the pelvis. It may seem an extravagant motive to move on to the annals, but that bite tells us a lot about the Roman shows.
The reason? The man in question It was probably a gladiator And that old dentontellada constitutes “The first physical evidence” of the fighting between humans and beasts on the Roman sand. Historians already knew about them, but through tracks such as mosaics, ceramics or written documents. There wasn’t evidence.
In a place in Britania … The origin of history (or at least that of The investigation who have just presented a group of experts from the Maynooth University and the King’s College London) is in a Roman cemetery of 1,800 years old Located in Driffield Terrace, on the outskirts of York. There, near the old EBORACUMon the main road between what is now York and London, a deposit with dozens of burials was discovered in 2004.
Some very peculiar. In 70% of cases Experts appreciated that the bodies had been beheaded, a well -known practice in Britania and that it is usually considered a funeral ritual Post Mortenalthough it is also related to executions. In addition, except for a woman and some young people, the vast majority of those buried were corpulent men Between 18 and 45, men with different origins and with marks of brutal trauma cured before they die, which leads to think that they often participated in fighting.
A very special bone. All those details and the similarities between York’s bones and those found in another former excavated cemetery years ago In Ephesushas led some experts to a fascinating conclusion: what they found in Driffield is neither more nor less than A burial with remains of gladiators.
Among all his remains there was one, however, that caught the attention of the archaeologists: a pelvis, part of the skeleton of a man of between 26 and 35 years which was buried with two other people and covered with horse bones. What was special? A brand. Deep Sharp Enigmatic An incision that experts soon associated with the bite of an animal.
What animal? And when did he bit him? Identified the dentellada was the task of finding out its origin. And to achieve this, archaeologists did the most logical: They contacted British Zoos And they were asked to be given samples of horse bones biting by cheese, tigers, leopards and lions and then compared the marks. When they finished they took a capital surprise.
The puncture found in York’s pelvis coincided with everyone’s greatest feline. Thus, the other big question was pending: in what circumstances could a lion bite a fighter? How were both in the sand?
The question is interesting because, to begin with, the big cats often kill their prey by biting them in the neck or head, like Remember The Guardian Tim Thompson, Professor of Anthropology at Maynooth. “The pelvis is unusual. That wound can be survived. It is not deadly. We believe that the individual had been incapacitated and that these marks are evidence that the animal dragged the body.” The bones thus counting a fascinating story.
What if it is a Venatore? Few figures are more emblematic (and versioned) of Roman history than gladiators. However, not all fighters and specialists trained to entertain the people fighting with other men in melee fighting. There were aurigas, acrobats and Venators (either Bestiarii), people who fought on the sand with wild beasts.
“The Roman amphitheats also organized ‘Beast Cacerías’ (Venation), who faced people against animals, a show that lasted from the republican period to late antiquity, “the researchers collect in The article in which they collect their findings, published in the magazine Plos One.
Gladiator vs. great felines. During the shows the Venatore They were dedicated to hunting and measuring their forces before the public with tigers, leopards, bears, elephants, wild boars, deer, bulls … and also lions. Animals served for fighting and were also used for “spectacular mutilations” or executing criminals during bloody Damnatio Ad Beasts (“condemns beasts”).
With all those data, the teacher Thomspon explains that he and his colleagues reached a fascinating conclusion about York’s nibble skeleton: “We believe that it is the remains of a gladiator who faced the feline in a combat sand as part of a Roman show.”
Why is it important? Because as they underline so much The King´s College London and Maynooth UniversityYork’s bone is “the first physical evidence of a combat of gladiators between humans and animals in the Roman period.” Historians had seen images of fighters bitten by lions in mosaics and ceramics and knew about fighting with beasts thanks to written records, but the pelvis unearthed in ancient Britain has allowed them to go further and shed new light on the shows of Rome.
“Although images of gladiators have appeared fighting lions in ancient mosaics and ceramics, this is the only convincing skeletal evidence of the Roman world of bite marks produced by the teeth of a great feline,” Celebrate John Pearcearcheology professor at King’s College. If York’s bone and the study he has inspired is relevant, insists The London institution is because it throws a “convincing skeletal evidence.”
“The bite marks represent the first osteological confirmation of violent encounters between humans and great carnivores in a combat or training environment in the Roman world,” ditch The institution.
From the clues to the tests. Archaeologists knew about the existence of shows with animals, but in a way until now they had clues, signs distributed by mosaics, ceramics and chronic. York has just yielded a test. And one that has been studied thoroughly. “For years our understanding of gladiator’s fighting and animals shows has been largely based on historical texts and artistic representations,” Thompson points out.
Not just that. Maynooth University expert points In a way, the finding “redefines our perception” of the culture of Roman entertainment in Britania and lets out a few questions as interesting: how was frequent to see exotic animals in the region? How did they transport them? And what impact did that traffic of wild beasts at the environmental level?
From Africa to England. “The logistics of transport of large live animals from the Mediterranean to northern England must have been complex and expensive, probably taking advantage of military supply routes,” Add Pearce. “If North Africa was looted by its cats not only for games in Rome, but for the northern provinces, ecological implications are significant. For each lion brought for the York Games (or cities and camps such as London, Cologne either Carnuntum), many more had to die on the road. “
Images | Wikipedia 1 and 2 and Maynooth University
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