INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
It's a regrettable reality that there is never time to cover all the interesting scientific stories we come across each month
In the past, we've featured year-end roundups of cool science stories we (almost) missed
This year, we're experimenting with a monthly collection
April's list includes new research on tattooed tardigrades, the first live image of a colossal baby squid, the digital unfolding of a
recently discovered Merlin manuscript, and an ancient Roman gladiator whose skeleton shows signs of being gnawed by a lion.
Puncture
injuries by large felid scavenging.
Credit:
Thompson et al.,
2025/PLOS One/CC-BY 4.0
Popular depictions of Roman gladiators in combat invariably include battling not just human
adversaries but wild animals
We know from surviving texts, imagery, and artifacts that such battles likely took place
But hard physical evidence is much more limited
Archaeologists have now found the first direct osteological evidence: the skeleton of a Roman gladiator who encountered a wild animal in the
arena, most likely a lion, based on bite marks evident on the pelvic bone, according to a paper published in the journal PLoS ONE.The
"We used a method called structured light scanning [to study the skeleton]," co-author Tim Thompson of Maynooth University told Ars
"It's a method of creating a 3D model using grids of light
It's not like X-ray or CT, in that it only records the surface (not internal) features, but since it uses light and not X-rays etc, it is
much safer, cheaper, and more portable
We have published a fair bit on this and shown its use in both archaeological and forensic contexts."The team compared the pelvic lesions
found on the subject skeleton with bite marks from modern animal specimens and concluded that the young man had been bitten by a "large
feline species," most likely a lion scavenging on the body around the time of death
The young man was decapitated after death for unknown reasons, although this was a ritualistic practice for some people during the Roman
While the evidence is technically circumstantial, "we are confident with our conclusions," said Thompson
"We've adopted a multidisciplinary approach to address this issue and have drawn on methods from different subjects, too
Our use of contemporary comparison zoological material is really what gives us the confidence."squid1-1152x648.jpg?#
