DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2025.10173 ISSN: 0003-598X
A spectacle of the Roman amphitheatre at Viminacium: multiproxy analysis of a brown bear skull
Nemanja Marković, Bruce Rothschild, Danijela Popović, Ivan Bogdanović, Sonja VukovićRoman amphitheatres were centres of public entertainment, hosting various spectacles that often included wild animals. Excavation of a building near the Viminacium amphitheatre in Serbia in 2016 uncovered the fragmentary cranium of a bear. Multistranded analysis, presented here, reveals that the six-year-old male brown bear (Ursus arctos) suffered an impact fracture to the frontal bone, the healing of which was impaired by a secondary infection. Excessive wear to the canine teeth further indicates cage chewing and thus a prolonged period of captivity that makes it likely this bear participated in more than one spectacle at the Viminacium amphitheatre.