Bite marks discovered on an ancient Roman skeleton in the UK have been hailed as the first ever physical evidence of gladiators fighting large cats like lions and tigers in public games.

Researchers compared puncture marks on an 1,800-year-old skeleton in the UK to various animal bites, and concluded that the individual was likely bitten by a lion.

Archaeologists have confirmed the first physical evidence that a Roman gladiator in Britain died fighting a lion. The discovery involves a skeleton found in 2004 at Driffield Terrace in York,