Gladiators: Back from the Dead

Up to one million gladiators are thought to have died in arenas across the Roman Empire. Seventy-five were recently found in a single cemetery in York. Two thousand years ago, York was a Roman stronghold, a staging ground for the push against the Scots. Apart from ancient Italy, Roman Britain had the highest density of gladiatorial arenas in Europe. As part of a routine building inspection in the outskirts of York, archaeologists discover an ancient Roman burial site. It soon became apparent the find was anything but routine.
Of total 80, 75 of the skeletons were men, a much higher majority than would be expected in a family grave site. The height, build and signs of musculature made the men much bigger than that of the average Roman man. A closer inspection of the bones also revealed a number of cut marks and fractures, evidence the men were no strangers to violence. Most disturbing of all most of the men had been brutally decapitated. Could the men be gladiators?
Using injuries found on bones, including weapon cuts and large bite marks, the programme recreates ancient gladiatorial life and death.
Although fascination with gladiators has been high, the details of their lives and deaths remain fragmentary. Now, with the discovery of an ancient Roman burial site containing 80 skeletons thought to be gladiator warriors, National Geographic recreates the world of the Roman arena and how six gladiators lived, fought and died.
Brutal, bloody and spectacular, gladiatorial games epitomised the Roman Empire. Yet the men behind the masks remain an enigma. These Yorkshire remains could change that.
The programme reveals how various types of fighters were trained in special schools, including Retiarii, who fought with nets and tridents, heavyweight Myrmillonis sword fighters, Thracians armed with special bent swords, Secutors who wore special helmets, and the Bestiarii, who fought wild animals, and follows archaeologists as they analyse weapon cut marks and large carnivore bites in skeletons whose remains were discovered in York in June 2010.