New evidence of how ancient human relatives in South Africa used their hands

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

The fossil hands of Australopithecus sediba (around two million years old) and Homo naledi (around 250,000 years old) show that these South African hominins may have had different levels of dexterity, as well as different climbing abilities.

view more 

Credit: © Tracy Kivell

To the point

• Different hand use: Two ancient human relatives, Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi, had different finger bone morphologies that indicate they used different types of hand grips, both when using tools and when climbing
• Internal structure of the finger bones: A. sediba had a mix of ape-like and human-like features, while H. naledi had a unique pattern of bone thickness, suggesting different loading patterns and possible grip types.
• Human Evolution: Ancient human relatives adapted to their environments in diverse ways, balancing tool use, food processing, and locomotion, challenging the traditional view of a single, linear transition from upright walking to advanced tool use.

Scientists have found new evidence for how our fossil human relatives in South Africa may have used their hands. Research led by Samar Syeda, postdoctoral researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, together with scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the University of the Witwatersrand, University of Kent, Duke University and the National Geographic Society, investigated variation in finger bone morphology to determine that South African hominins not only may have had different levels of dexterity, but also different climbing abilities.

This new research focuses on two, almost complete fossil hand skeletons found in South Africa.  One is the hand of Australopithecus sediba, first discovered in 2010 at the site of Malapa and dated to approximately two million years old.  The other hand skeleton is from the more recent, but perhaps more enigmatic, Homo naledi, first found in 2015 deep within the Rising Star Cave system and dated to around 250,000 years ago. 

Neither hominin has yet been found in direct association with stone tools, but several aspects of their hand and wrist morphology suggest that they had a degree of hand dexterity much more similar to that of humans than to living chimpanzees or gorillas. “Since stone tools are found in South Africa by at least 2.2 million years ago (and in East Africa by as early as 3.3 million years ago), and many primates are all excellent stone tool users, it is not surprising that A. sediba and H. naledi would be dexterous tool users as well. However, how exactly they used tools and if they manipulated their tools in similar ways is unclear,” says senior author, Tracy Kivell.

Moreover, both A. sediba and H. naledi are also found with many other bones of their skeleton that preserve ape-like features, particularly bones of their upper limbs, that would be advantageous for climbing. If these features reflect actual climbing in these individuals or are simply evolutionary hold-overs from an ancestor that climbed, is a longstanding debate in palaeoanthropology.

Fossil hands reveal ancient human behavior

To help address these questions, Syeda and her colleagues investigated variation in the internal structure—the cortical bone—of the fingers in A. sediba and H. naledi. Bone is a living tissue that can adapt its structure in response to how we use and load our skeleton during life, getting thicker where loads are higher and thinner where loads are lower. Therefore, variation in the internal cortical thickness can provide new insights in how these two hominin fossils may have actually used their hands during their lifetimes.

“We found that A. sediba and H. naledi show different functional signals in the cortical bone structure of their fingers,” says Samar Syeda, lead author of the study.  In A. sediba, the distribution of the cortical bone within the proximal and intermediate phalanges of most of its fingers is like that of apes. However, bones of its thumb and pinky finger are more like those of humans. Syeda concludes that “these two digits are more likely to reflect potential signals of manipulation because they are less often used or experience less load during climbing or suspensory locomotion. When we combine these results with the remarkably long, human-like thumb of A. sediba, it suggests that A. sediba used its hand for both tool use and other dexterous behaviours, as well as climbing.”

Homo naledi's hands show unique grip pattern

H. naledi, in contrast, is unusual in showing a human-like signal in its proximal phalanges (the bones that articulate with the palm) but an ape-like signal in its intermediate phalanges (the bones within the middle of the fingers). “This distinct pattern was unexpected and indicates that H. naledi likely used and loaded different regions of its fingers in different ways,” says Syeda. This kind of loading pattern is typical of only certain grip types used today, like crimp grips, used often by rock climbers, where the surface is grasped primarily by just the tips of the fingers. H. naledi also has unusually highly curved finger bones, particularly for a hominin that lived at the same time as the earliest members of our species, Homo sapiens, which is another indication that it used its hands for locomotion.

While more research is needed to further test if H. naledi may have used crimp-like grips or climbed rocks, it is clear that throughout human evolution there were different ways of combining enhanced dexterity for tool use and food processing with the continued need to use the hands to climb, be it trees or rocks, within the South African palaeolandscape. “This work offers yet more evidence that human evolution is not a single, linear transition from upright walking to increasingly better tool use, but is rather characterized by different ‘experiments’ that balanced the need to both manipulate and to move within these past environments,” says Kivell.

---

Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adt1201 

World-famous Schöningen spears are 100,000 years younger than previously claimed, new research suggests

Scientists have analysed amino acids locked in snail shells to establish a new age for the world’s oldest complete wooden hunting weapons

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of York

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

The Schöningen spears as presented at the exhibition of the “Paläon” Research Museum in Schöningen, Germany.

view more 

Credit: Photo: MINKUSIMAGES. With kind permission of the copyright holder: Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege (NLD)

The study used recent advances in a dating method known as “amino acid geochronology” – a technique refined by a research group led by Professor Kirsty Penkman at the University of York.

By analysing amino acids locked within snail shells buried within the sediment that preserved the spears, the research team was able, for the first time, to directly date material from the exact layer of earth in which the spears were found.

At the time of the discovery of the first spears in the mid-1990s, they were thought to be around 400,000 years-old, but that estimate was later revised to approximately 300,000 years. However, these age estimates were based on analysis of the underlying sediment layers.

The researchers, whose findings are published in the journal Science Advances, emphasise that this younger age estimate does not diminish the importance of the Schöningen discoveries. Instead, they say it further highlights the site's importance as a marker in the study of human evolution.

Co-author of the paper, Professor Kirsty Penkman, from the Department of Chemistry at the University of York, said: “This new dating evidence places the remarkable Schöningen spears within the Middle Palaeolithic period, the time of the Neanderthals.”

First author Dr. Jarod Hutson of the Leibniz Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA) in Mainz, Germany,  said “The Schöningen spears are so significant because, unlike older sites, they offer compelling evidence of sophisticated hunting strategies which would have required better cognitive abilities and the development of more complex communication, planning and social structures. The updated timeline for Schöningen now aligns it with a growing number of sites which together indicate a significant leap in early human hunting capabilities during this period.”

The site at Schöningen, Lower Saxony, was located at a lakeside where rapid sedimentation caused the exceptional preservation of organic materials, including the impressive arsenal of hunting weapons and other wooden implements, along with the butchered remains of hunted prey, which primarily consisted of horses.

Previous archaeological investigations analysing these horse remains, notably by the MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution near Neuwied, a LEIZA department closely linked to the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, have revealed evidence of seasonal hunting of small groups of horses along the shores of the ancient lake, with over 50 individual animals documented.

These findings point towards well-organised hunting parties, where individuals undertook coordinated and specific roles to ensure successful kills of larger and more challenging prey. The redating of the Schöningen site implies a notable increase in the level and complexity of human cooperation by approximately 200,000 years ago.

Amino acid geochronology - the biochemical approach central to the redating of the site - takes advantage of the fact that amino acids, the building blocks of protein, come in two forms: left-handed and right-handed versions of the same molecule.

When a creature is alive, its proteins are made only of the "left-handed" version. But after it dies, some of these slowly change into the "right-handed" version. By measuring how much of each version is left in certain fossils, scientists can work out how long ago that creature lived. The researchers looked at the tiny "trapdoors" (called opercula) of small freshwater snails called Bithynia. These little doors are made of a mineral that traps the amino acids inside for millions of years, like a perfect time capsule. The scientists took samples of these snail trapdoors from the same layer of earth where the famous spears were found.

They compared the amounts of the two types of amino acids in the opercula from Schöningen with those from other opercula found across northern Europe. Another  research team in Madrid carried out further tests on horse teeth and tiny organisms called ostracods also found in the same sediment layer, and the results backed up the idea that the Schöningen site is younger than previously thought.

Co-author of the study, Ellie Nelson, a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry at the University of York added: “Groundbreaking refinements in amino acid geochronology are allowing us to date Palaeolithic archaeological sites with greater accuracy than ever before, reshaping our understanding of this pivotal era in human history. This innovative method allows us to measure time signals trapped within the crystals of fossilised shell and tooth enamel in any part of the world across a range of archaeological sites. The enhanced accuracy holds immense potential for unlocking the long-held secrets of the Palaeolithic.”

Revised age for Schöningen hunting spears indicates intensification of Neanderthal cooperative behavior around 200,000 years ago is published in the journal Science Advances. 

The study was carried out by researchers from the University of York (UK), Leibniz Zentrum für Archäologie (Germany), National Museum of Natural History (Washington D.C), Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research (Germany), University of Bremen (Germany), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany), Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria (Spain), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain), Lund University (Sweden), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Germany), University of the Basque Country (Spain) and Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). The amino acid dating at York was thanks to funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 865222 - EQuaTe).  

Study reveals vast Aztec trade networks behind ancient obsidian artifacts

New archaeological research by Tulane University and the Proyecto Templo Mayor in Mexico reveals how obsidian – a volcanic glass used for tools and ceremonial objects and one of the most important raw materials in pre-Columbian times – moved across ancient Mesoamerica and shaped life in its capital, Tenochtitlan. The study sheds new light on the economic networks, rituals and political influence of the Mexica (Aztec) Empire.  

Published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study analyzed 788 obsidian artifacts excavated from the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan, the main temple and core of the Mexica Empire located in what is now Mexico City. The research represents the largest compositional study of obsidian ever conducted at the site.

Archaeologists found that while the Mexica primarily used green obsidian from the Sierra de Pachuca source, they also acquired obsidian from at least seven other locations, including regions beyond their political borders, such as Ucareo, in the Purépecha territory in West Mexico. The findings suggest a sophisticated economy that relied not only on conquest but on active long-distance trade, even with rival polities.

“Although the Mexicas preferred green obsidian, the high diversity of obsidian types, mainly in the form of non-ritual artifacts, suggests that obsidian tools from multiple sources reached the capital of the Empire through market instead of direct acquisition in the outcrop,” said lead author Diego Matadamas-Gomora, a PhD candidate in Tulane’s Department of Anthropology. “By studying where this material came from, we can explore the movement of goods across Mesoamerica.”

The analysis showed that nearly 90% of the obsidian artifacts in the sample were made with Sierra de Pachuca obsidian – prized for its green hue and symbolic connection to the mythical city of Tollan. Almost all the ceremonial artifacts found inside buried offerings at the Templo Mayor were made with this type of obsidian, including miniature weapons, jewelry and inlays for sculptures.

A smaller but significant portion of the obsidian came from places like Otumba, Tulancingo, Ucareo and El Paraíso, some of which lay outside the control of the Mexica Empire. These materials were more commonly used for tool production and found in the construction fill, indicating that these obsidian types were available to the general population through local markets rather than being tightly controlled by the state.

The study also tracked how obsidian use shifted over time, from the city’s earliest phases around 1375 CE through its fall in 1520 CE.

During the empire’s early phases, more diversity in obsidian sources appeared in both ritual and everyday objects. After the Mexica consolidated power around 1430 CE, obsidian for ritual purposes became almost exclusively sourced from Sierra de Pachuca, suggesting growing religious standardization and centralized control.

“This kind of compositional analysis allows us to trace how imperial expansion, political alliances and trade networks evolved over time,” Matadamas-Gomora said.

The research was made possible through a partnership between Tulane and Mexico’s Proyecto Templo Mayor of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), with artifacts analyzed using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), a non-destructive method that identifies the geochemical fingerprint of each artifact.

“This work not only highlights the Mexica Empire’s reach and complexity but also demonstrates how the archaeological sciences can be leveraged to study ancient objects and what they can tell us about past cultural practices,” said study co-author Jason Nesbitt, an associate professor in Tulane’s Anthropology Department.

This publication was partially funded by Tulane’s Supporting Impactful Publications (SIP) Program. It is co-authored by Tulane researchers Nesbitt, Julia Sjödahl and Tatsuya Murakami, and INAH researchers Leonardo López Luján, Rodolfo Aguilar Tapia and Alejandro Pastrana.

---

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2500095122 

Ancient Andes society used hallucinogens to strengthen social order

Two thousand years before the Inca empire dominated the Andes, a lesser-known society known as the Chavín Phenomenon shared common art, architecture, and materials throughout modern-day Peru. Through agricultural innovations, craft production, and trade, Chavín shaped a growing social order and laid the foundations for hierarchical society among the high peaks.

But one of their most powerful tools wasn’t farming. It was access to altered states of consciousness.

That’s according to a new study that uncovered the earliest-known direct evidence of the use of psychoactive plants in the Peruvian Andes. A team of archaeologists from the University of Florida, Stanford University and South American institutions discovered ancient snuff tubes carved from hollow bones at the heart of monumental stone structures at Chavín de Huántar, a prehistoric ceremonial site in the mountains Peru.

By conducting chemical and microscopic analyses of the snuff tubes, the researchers revealed traces of nicotine from wild relatives of tobacco and vilca bean residue, a hallucinogen related to DMT. The leaders, it seems, wielded these substances not just for personal visions but to reinforce their authority.

Unlike communal hallucinogenic use common in other ancient cultures, Chavín’s rituals were exclusive. Archaeologists discovered the snuff tubes in private chambers within massive stone structures that held only a handful of participants at a time, creating an air of mystique and control.

“Taking psychoactives was not just about seeing visions. It was part of a tightly controlled ritual, likely reserved for a select few, reinforcing the social hierarchy,” said Daniel Contreras, Ph.D., an anthropological archaeologist at UF and co-author of the new study that revealed these rituals at Chavín.

These experiences were likely profound, even terrifying. To those who inhaled, the supernatural might have felt like a force beyond comprehension. And that was precisely the point. By controlling access to these altered states, Chavín’s rulers established a potent ideology and convinced their people that their leadership was intertwined with mystical power and part of the natural order.

“The supernatural world isn’t necessarily friendly, but it’s powerful,” Contreras said. “These rituals, often enhanced by psychoactives, were compelling, transformative experiences that reinforced belief systems and social structures.”

Contreras has spent nearly thirty years studying the site as part of a team led by John Rick, Ph.D, professor emeritus at Stanford University. The team argue that these ceremonies were pivotal in shaping early class structures. Unlike forced labor societies, Chavín’s builders likely believed in the grandeur of the monuments they were constructing, persuaded by these immersive rituals.

Those rituals extended beyond the use of psychedelics. Archaeologists have also uncovered trumpets made from conch shells and chambers seemingly designed to enhance the awe-inducing musical performances.

"One of the ways that inequality was justified or naturalized was through ideology — through the creation of impressive ceremonial experiences that made people believe this whole project was a good idea,” Contreras said.

Their study was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The findings help solve a century-old mystery about this site, located at an elevation of 10,000 feet. Since its first excavation over a hundred years ago, Chavín has been seen as related to both earlier, more egalitarian societies and the mountain-spanning empires ruled by powerful elites that came later.

Controlled access to mystical experiences helps explain this major social transition, a finding only made possible by decades of intense excavations and advanced analytical methods.

“It’s exciting that ongoing excavations can be combined with cutting-edge archaeological science techniques to get us closer to understanding what it was like to live at this site,” Contreras said.

---

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Women from the Bronze Age already carried heavy loads on their heads

An interdisciplinary study led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) reveals that women living in the region of Nubia (present-day Sudan) developed skeletal changes adapted to bearing heavy loads on their heads starting in the Bronze Age over 3500 years ago. The results, published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, shed light on a largely invisible practice that has been ignored by written history and which has been carried out primarily by women for millennia.

For generations, the most common images of physical labour in prehistory have been dominated by depictions of men. However, a recent study published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology challenges this male-centered view: in what is now Sudan, more than 3,500 years ago, Nubian women from the Kerma culture (2500-1500 BCE) were already carrying heavy objects — and sometimes even children — on their heads daily, using techniques passed down through generations, such as head straps known as tumplines.

The research, led by Jared Carballo from the UAB Department of Antiquity and Middle Ages Studies and affiliated to Leiden University in the Netherlands, and Uroš Matić from the University of Essen, Germany, combines the anthropological analysis of skeletal remains with ethnographic and iconographic studies of various African and Mediterranean cultures, including representations of Nubian women in Egyptian tombs. The aim of the study was to understand how daily labour shapes the body and how load-carrying tasks were distributed between men and women.

The study of 30 human skeletons (14 women and 16 men) buried at the Bronze Age site of Abu Fatima, located near Kerma, the capital of the kingdom of Nubia – also called Kush and a rival of ancient Egypt –revealed significant sex-based differences, thanks to the material provided by the excavations by the Sudanese-American Mission led by Sarah A. Schrader and Stuart T. Smith, co-authors of the research. While men showed signs of strain in the shoulders and arms, especially on the right side — likely from shoulder-carrying — women exhibited specific skeletal changes in the cervical vertebrae and areas of the skull associated with the prolonged use of head straps that transferred weight from the forehead to the back.

One of the clearest examples was the woman classified as "individual 8A2": a woman who died over the age of 50 and was buried with luxury items such as an ostrich feather fan and a leather cushion. Biochemical analysis of her dental enamel indicates she was born elsewhere, suggesting she was a migrant. Her skull displays a significant depression behind the coronal suture and severe cervical osteoarthritis, consistent with a prolonged use of tumplines. It is likely that, in addition to migrating from her homeland, she spent much of her life transporting heavy loads in the rural Nile environment — perhaps even carrying children from her family or community. A way of life as common as it is overlooked by written history.

"This way of life is as common as it is overlooked by written history", explains Jared Carballo. "In some way, the study reveals how women literally have carried the weight of society on their heads for millennia."

This study supports a growing perspective that sees the human body as a biological archive of lived experiences. In this sense, bone modifications are not simply the result of ageing; they also reflect social patterns, such as the division of labour and gender roles. Therefore, anthropological concepts like "body techniques" (ways in which people use their bodies in different societies in everyday activities such as walking, running, or using tools) or “gender performativity” (differences in movements dues to imitation or social conventions) offer a framework for interpreting how repeated tasks shape bones and configure bodies according to identity.

Such practices, also observed in representations of Nubian women in later Egyptian tombs and still documented today in rural communities across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, have long been invisible in historical narratives. However, as this research shows, their impact was so profound that they literally reshaped the anatomy of those who performed them. Head-loading was not only a physical effort but also a material expression of inequality and resilience.

As a result, the study opens new avenues of research into women’s mobility, the physical implications of motherhood, and the economic and logistical roles of women in rural societies. “Abu Fatima thus offers a new window into the deep past of the fascinating Nile Valley and a powerful reminder of how heavy the silences around women in history still are”, Jared Carballo concludes.

The research included the participation of archaeologists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Leiden University, the University of Essen, and the University of California Santa Barbara.

---

Journal

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

DOI

10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101652 

Phoenician culture spread mainly through cultural exchange

 

Study challenges long-held assumptions about the Mediterranean Phoenician-Punic civilization, one of the most influential maritime cultures in history

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Punic Necropolis of Puig des Molins on the island of Ibiza. The new ancient DNA study sequenced human remains from this and other important Phoenician-Punic archaeological sites.

view more 

Credit: © Photo Raymar, MAEF

To the point

• Secret of the Phoenician-Punic civilization's success: Their culture spread across the Mediterranean not through large-scale mass migration, but through a dynamic process of cultural transmission and assimilation.
• Melting pot of ancient people: The study found that Punic populations had a highly variable and heterogeneous genetic profile, with significant North African and Sicilian-Aegean ancestry.
• Highly interconnected: Ancient Mediterranean societies were cosmopolitan, with people from different regions trading, moving often over large distances and having offspring with each other. This provides new insights into the region's cultural and population history in the first millennium BCE. 

The Phoenician culture emerged in the Bronze Age city-states of the Levant, developing prominent innovations such as the first alphabet (from which many present-day writing systems derive). By the early first millennium BCE, Phoenician cities had established a vast maritime network of trading posts as far as Iberia, spreading their culture, religion, and language throughout the central and western Mediterranean.

By the 6th century BCE, Carthage, a Phoenician coastal colony in what is now Tunisia, had risen to dominate this region. These culturally Phoenician communities associated with or ruled by Carthage became known as “Punic” by the Romans. The Carthaginian empire left its mark in history, particularly well-known for the three large-scale “Punic Wars” with the rising Roman Republic, including the Carthaginian general Hannibal’s surprise campaign to cross the Alps.

Within the framework of the Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, co-directed by Johannes Krause, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and Michael McCormick of Harvard University, an international team of researchers has now presented a study on the genetic history of these ancient Mediterranean civilizations.

New perspective on the spread of Phoenician culture

The new study aimed to use ancient DNA to characterize Punic people's ancestry and look for genetic links between them and Levantine Phoenicians, with whom they share a common culture and language. This was made possible by sequencing and analyzing a large sample of genomes from human remains buried in 14 Phoenician and Punic archaeological sites spanning the Levant, North Africa, Iberia, and the Mediterranean islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Ibiza.

The researchers revealed an unexpected result. “We find surprisingly little direct genetic contribution from Levantine Phoenicians to western and central Mediterranean Punic populations,” says lead author Harald Ringbauer, who was a post-doctoral scientist at Harvard University when he began this research, and is now a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. “This provides a new perspective on how Phoenician culture spread—not through large-scale mass migration, but through a dynamic process of cultural transmission and assimilation.”

The study highlights that Punic sites were home to people with vastly different ancestry profiles. “We observe a genetic profile in the Punic world that was extraordinarily heterogeneous,” says David Reich, a professor of Genetics and Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University who co-led the work. “At each site, people were highly variable in their ancestry, with the largest genetic source being people similar to contemporary people of Sicily and the Aegean, and many people with significant North African associated ancestry as well.”

Ancient DNA reveals cosmopolitan nature of Punic world

The results underscore the Punic world's cosmopolitan nature. Individuals with North African ancestry lived next to and intermingled with a majority of people of mainly Sicilian-Aegean ancestry in all sampled Punic sites, including Carthage. Moreover, genetic networks across the Mediterranean suggest that shared demographic processes—such as trade, intermarriage, and population mixing—played a critical role in shaping these communities. The researchers even found a pair of close relatives (ca. second cousins) bridging the Mediterranean, one buried in a North African Punic site and one in Sicily.

“These findings reinforce the idea that ancient Mediterranean societies were deeply interconnected, with people moving and mixing across often large geographic distances,” says Ilan Gronau, a professor of Computer Science at Reichman University in ​​Herzliya, Israel, who co-led the work. He adds: “Such studies highlight the power of ancient DNA in its ability to shed light on the ancestry and mobility of historical populations for which we have relatively sparse direct historical records”. 

Roman-era skeleton from Britain is rare evidence of human-animal gladiator combat

 

The bones show evidence of bite marks from a large cat such as a lion, used in some gladiator shows

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Puncture injuries by large felid scavenging on both sides of bone.

view more 

Credit: Thompson et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

A skeleton from Roman-era England has bite marks consistent with those of a large cat like a lion, suggesting that this individual may have died as part of a gladiator show or execution, according to a study published April 23, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Tim Thompson from Maynooth University, Ireland, and colleagues.

Records of gladiator combat in the Roman Empire have been well-documented, with evidence of both human-human conflicts and fights between humans and animals such as lions and bears. But actual gladiator remains are relatively scarce in the archaeological record — and in Britain specifically, which was occupied by the Romans from the first through fifth centuries, there has so far been no confirmed evidence of human-animal combat.

The skeleton described in the new paper was likely buried sometime between 200-300 CE, near the Roman city of Eboracum, which is now York. This site contains the remains of mostly younger men, often with evidence of trauma, which has led to speculation that it could be a gladiator burial site. This specific skeleton has a series of depressions on the pelvis, which had previously been suggested as possible evidence of carnivore bites. By creating a three-dimensional scan of these marks, the researchers on this new study could compare these marks to bites from a variety of different animals.

They determined that these marks were likely bite marks from a large cat, possibly a lion. Since they were on the pelvis, they note it’s possible that these bites came as a result of the lion scavenging on the body around the time of death.

This skeleton is the first direct, physical evidence of human-animal combat from Europe during the Roman Empire. By demonstrating the possibility of gladiatorial combat or similar spectacles in modern York, this finding also gives archaeologists and historians new insight into the life and history of Roman-era England.

Lead author Prof. Tim Thompson, of Maynooth University, adds: "The implications of our multidisciplinary study are huge. Here we have physical evidence for the spectacle of the Roman Empire and the dangerous gladiatorial combat on show. This provides new evidence to support our understanding of the past."

Co-author Dr. John Pearce, of King's College London, adds: "As tangible witnesses to spectacles in Britain's Roman amphitheatres, the bitemarks help us appreciate these spaces as settings for brutal demonstrations of power. They make an important contribution to desanitizing our Roman past."   

David Jennings, CEO of York Archaeology, adds: “One of the wonderful things about archaeology is that we continue to make discoveries even years after a dig has concluded, as research methods and technology enable us to explore the past in more detail; it is now 20 years since we unearthed 80 burials at Driffield Terrace. This latest research gives us a remarkable insight into the life – and death – of this particular individual, and adds to both previous and ongoing genome research into the origins of some of the men buried in this particular Roman cemetery. We 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 osteo-archaeological evidence for this kind of gladiatorial combat has been found so far from the Colosseum of Rome, which would have been the classical world’s Wembley Stadium of combat.”

 Yhe freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/4jpsL5