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Skull of an Ancient Brown Bear Tells a Story of Brutality and Abuse at the Hands
| Mainlining the $ecret Truth of the Univer$e | 09/13/25 |
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Date: September 13th, 2025 4:25 PM Author: Mainlining the $ecret Truth of the Univer$e (You = Privy to The Great Becumming™ = Welcum to The Goodie Room™) Skull of an Ancient Brown Bear Tells a Story of Brutality and Abuse at the Hands of Roman Entertainers
The bear was caught in the Balkans and caged for years to perform in an amphitheater
Sonja Anderson - Daily Correspondent
September 10, 2025
Nearly a decade ago, archaeologists found the broken skull of a bear among the ruins of a Roman amphitheater in eastern Serbia. By examining its bones and teeth, researchers have now drawn a remarkable portrait of the animal. According to a study published in Antiquity, the skull belonged to a six-year old brown bear from the Balkans, who chewed on the bars of its cage between fights against gladiators.
The bear skull was discovered in the ruins of Viminacium—the capital of the Roman province Moesia. Founded in the first century as a military outpost, Viminacium grew into a major city within a couple hundred years, peaking at a population of up to 40,000. Like other cities in the Roman Empire, it boasted amphitheaters, where civilians were entertained by gladiator games—in which slaves and criminals fought and killed each other and wild animals.
Many ancient records detail Romans’ use of brown bears in entertainment, according to Antiquity. They were apparently trained performers, gladiator opponents and executioners. But until the skull was found in Serbia, researchers never had physical evidence of these activities.
Per the study, this bear skull’s frontal bone was fractured, then became infected while healing, and its canine teeth’s “excessive wear” indicates “cage chewing.” The researchers write that such evidence suggests the bear was in captivity for a long time and participated in more than one spectacle in the Viminacium amphitheater, which sat about 7,000 people.
“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,” study lead author Nemanja Marković, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology in Belgrade, tells Live Science’s Kristina Killgrove.
The bear skull was found in the remains of a small building near the amphitheater’s entrance, according to the study. Archaeologists also found the partial skeleton of a leopard in the building, and remnants of other wild animals—including other brown bears—were unearthed in the theatre’s broader vicinity. The age of the brown bear’s skull hasn’t been determined, but researchers radiocarbon-dated another bone from the small building to between 240 and 350 C.E.
“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,” Marković tells Live Science.
Romans began holding venationes, or staged hunts, in the third century B.C.E. They trapped wild animals in Sicily and North Africa—like elephants, crocodiles, crocodiles, tigers and lions—and transported them to Rome. Upon arrival, many animals were kept in menageries, where they were starved into submission and abusively trained to do tricks. Then, Romans released the animals into amphitheaters, for venators (hunter gladiators) to wound and kill.
The brown bear’s skull fracture may have been inflicted by a venator equipped with a long spear, the researchers write. The wound became infected, and the infection is likely what killed the bear. Its dental and jaw damage was probably caused by chewing on the bars of its cages, as captive bears tend to do. As well as anxiety, this behavior might have been stirred by a “nutritionally inappropriate diet and the lack of natural tooth-cleaning opportunities,” write the researchers.
“This bear was likely kept in captivity for years, not just weeks,” Marković tells Live Science.
It was only earlier this year that the first skeletal evidence of gladiator-animal combat was discovered: Researchers identified a lion’s bite mark on a gladiator’s pelvic bone unearthed in England—across the empire from Viminacium’s bear skull. The two studies show the far-reaching influence of Rome’s bloody entertainment practices, and they’re vivid reminders of the human and animal sacrifices bored Romans demanded.
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