Decapitated Gladiators Found in U.K.!

Everybody loves Gladiators! Although modern day hand-to-hand combat doesn’t involve swords or shields (or lions or tigers), we all have that little bit of blood lust that makes watch UFC, and even the WWE.

It seems archeologists working near York in the U.K., a town roughly 300 km north of London, believe they have found a “Gladiator Graveyard”.

The site has yielded 80 skeletons in the past 10 years. Many of those buried were decapitated prior to being buried. Some of the archeologists believe this is evidence that the skeletons were gladiators, as being decapitated was often an act of mercy for gladiators suffering serious injuries during combat. One skeleton even shows evidence of a large animal bite, such as a lion.

The skeletons date back to between the 1st century and the 4th century A.D., when this area was one of the largest settlements of Roman Britain. Gladiators would periodically travel the area to put on combat shows.

It is not totally conclusive that all these skeletons are Gladitors. Some believe they could be remnants of an army. But the evidence is starting to mount that this is indeed a resting place for a large number of Gladiators.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to wrap up this blog post and go watch Russell Crowe decapitate some opponents in the Collosseum…