A Roman gladiator and a lion met in battle. Only one left.

The gladiators fought lions and other wild animals in the arenas of the Roman Empire. But for all the stories of glorious fights represented in ancient texts, marble reliefs and mosaics, then told in films and other modern media, archaeologists have never found direct physical evidence, such as gladiator skeletons carrying injuries induced by animals.

Finally, proof of classical combat between man and beast was found in the form of a skeleton of a Roman colony in Great Britain. This is the first direct proof of a gladiator mutilated by a lion.

The skeleton was discovered 20 years ago, in a search stimulated by a couple hoping to renovate the courtyard of their house in the English city of York. An initial survey revealed evidence of an old cemetery, interrupting the construction plans.

“Great Britain is rich in Roman archeology,” said Tim Thompson, anthropologist at Maynooth University in Ireland and author of an article published Wednesday which describes the discovery of the PLOS One newspaper. “You cannot almost push a spade into the ground without hitting something old and archaeological.”

The largest site contained the buried remains of more than 80 individuals. Almost all were young men, and many of their bodies showed signs of trauma. The demographic data of the deceased, the types of injuries in their bones and the way they were buried have suggested that they had fought as gladiators about 1,800 years ago, while what is now York was an outpost of the Roman Empire.

A particular skeleton, identified by researchers as 6DT19, had unusual injuries: small indentations in the hip bones.