Scientists have found the first proof that ancient humans fought animals

Historians have long believed that ancient humans fought animals in arena battles, but no definitive evidence has been found — until now. An archeological breakthrough two decades in the making has provided the first proof that gladiators did indeed fight animals.

The discovery by a team of archaeologists may simply confirm what historians have already assumed. But some in the scientific community are hoping the unearthing may continue to unlock ancient secrets.

What discovery was made?

The discovery is the "first physical evidence for human-animal gladiatorial combat," according to the findings, which were published April 23 in the journal PLOS One. The findings came in the "form of a skeleton from a Roman settlement in Britain," said The New York Times. This damaged skeleton was found in the city of York, England, 20 years ago, but archeologists have only now proven what caused the injuries.

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This skeleton had "small indentations in the hip bones," said the Times, and these "notches looked like bite marks from a large animal, perhaps a lion." But no proof of this was found when the skeleton was originally excavated. So researchers "created a map of the dimensions and depth of the animals' bites." They then "compared the bite marks left by the different animals with the indentations on the ancient skeleton," which confirmed that the marks came from a lion.

Why is this discovery important?

It is "rare for archaeologists to find physical evidence of such combat in the form of Roman gladiators' remains," especially for "something seemingly so well-documented," said Scientific American. Also, this new evidence "not only offers fascinating clues into the culture of gladiatorial combat but also highlights the astonishingly far-reaching influence of the Roman Empire."

These fights were "one of the key ways that Roman culture was spread," Anna Osterholtz, a bioarchaeologist at Mississippi State University, said to Scientific American. The games "taught things like social roles and social norms." The remains also describe "people's lives that weren't considered important enough to be written down, that were never part of the official record."

The findings, additionally, are proof the U.K. "was well integrated into the customs and systems of the Roman Empire at its peak and provide evidence that Roman entertainments were widespread across the empire," Jaclyn Neel, an associate professor of Greek and Roman studies at Canada's Carleton University, told CNN.

This revelation now opens the door for scientists to make more discoveries — mainly, how these animals may have been transported. Scientists "know that these events happened in the provinces of the Roman Empire, but it raises other questions," Professor Tim Thompson, an anthropologist at Ireland's Maynooth University and the lead author of the study, told The Guardian. How do you "get a lion from Africa to York?"

Either way, experts seem excited at the prospect of continued research. The realization "gives us a remarkable insight into the life — and death — of this particular individual and adds to both previous and ongoing genome research," David Jennings, the CEO of York Archaeology, said in a press release. Scientists "may never know what brought this man to the arena where we believe he may have been fighting for the entertainment of others," but it is "remarkable that the first osteoarchaeological evidence for this kind of gladiatorial combat has been found so far from the Colosseum of Rome."