Skulls ‘are evidence of London gladiators’

 
15 January 2014

Dozens of skulls found beneath a Waterstones shop in the City are believed to be the first evidence of Roman gladiators in Britain.

Archaeologists had previously failed to find evidence of the men who fought at an amphitheatre at the Guildhall site.

But new techniques have led experts to announce that they believe the 39 skulls found in 1988 were from the bodies of executed enemies or fallen gladiators. They said it was “not a pretty picture”, with one skull having been chewed by dogs, while others were likely to have been decapitated.

Rebecca Redfern, from the Museum of London, said: “Decapitation was a way of finishing off gladiators, but not everyone who died in the amphitheatre was a gladiator. It was where criminals were executed.”

She and Heather Bonney, from the Natural History Museum, reveal their findings in the Journal of Archaeological Science this week.

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