Though dramatic images of ancient Roman gladiators fighting great beasts like lions and tigers have appeared in books and films for decades, archaeologists never had any direct proof that such battles actually took place — until now.

A discovery in an English garden led to the first direct evidence that man fought beast to entertain the subjects of the Roman Empire.

Skeletal remains in a Roman burial ground in northern England were found to have lesions that looked suspiciously like bite marks. Modern forensic techniques found that the teeth behind the marks probably belonged to a large feline, and the part of the skeleton that had been in the creature’s mouth further indicated it must have been a lion.