Archäologen entdeckten den Schädel eines Bären, der einst in römischen Gladiatorenkämpfen eingesetzt wurde. Der Bär erlitt einen Bruch an seinem Frontalknochen, und es gab Markierungen an den Zähnen, weil es an den Stäben eines Käfigs kaute.

A new study published in Antiquity details the analysis of a skull fragment, initially dug up in the amphitheater located in present-day Serbia in 2016. The remains came from a 6-year-old male brown bear who lived a difficult life as a tool for Roman entertainment. He had suffered an “impact fracture to the frontal bone, the healing of which was impaired by a secondary infection.” And “excessive wear” to the canine teeth indicates that the bear was chewing on his cage—likely a sign of a prolonged period of captivity.

The team determined that this bear “participated in more than one spectacle at the Viminacium amphitheater.”

“We cannot say with certainty whether the bear died directly in the arena, but the evidence suggests the trauma occurred during spectacles and the subsequent infection likely contributed significantly to its death,” Nemania Markovic, lead author on the study and senior research associate at the Institute of Archaeology in Belgrade, told Live Science.

The Viminacium—an oval-shaped event center with high walls that could seat 7,000 spectators—was built in the second century A.D. The skull was found near the entrance, alongside a leopard bone and other animal remains. “Previous research suggests animals killed in the arena were butchered nearby, their meat distributed, and bones discarded close to the amphitheater—not buried in a formal animal graveyard,” Markovic said.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/spectacle-of-the-roman-amphitheatre-at-viminacium-multiproxy-analysis-of-a-brown-bear-skull/FB967A5B1441557B31D86CF1A2377F9F

All we’ve been is all we’ll ever be

Its wild how these gladiators could actively capture a live bear just for shits and giggles.

Factors into the enginuity in a time of no tranquilizers.

Not a bear skull in the photo. Sloppy journalism.