Dates: Thursday 24 April 2025–Friday 20 June 2025, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Venue: DIG

24 April – 20 June 2025 | 10am – 4pm | DIG | Included in admission price | Book now

Step into the world of ancient gladiators and uncover a truly unique encounter at DIG! While gladiators battling lions and bears have long captured the imagination, evidence of these fierce encounters has been limited to historical texts and artistic depictions—until now.

This spring, DIG is proud to present an extraordinary display: skeletal remains believed to bear genuine lion bite marks. Alongside this discovery, witness a stunning facial reconstruction that brings history vividly to life.

Join our Dig Deeper tours—an exclusive, adult-focused experience held at the end of each day. These tours spotlight the gladiator remains and other fascinating artifacts from our collection. Learn from real archaeologists, ask your burning questions about life on a dig, and handle replica artifacts. You’ll also gain hands-on experience in our interactive dig pits, discovering what it’s like to uncover the past.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to come face-to-face with history. Book your visit today!

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Dates: Saturday 24 May 2025–Saturday 31 May 2025, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Venue: DIG

24 – 31 May 2025 | 11 am – 3pm | DIG | £3 per person, pay on arrival | DIG website

Inspired by real Roman objects, this drop-in craft allows you to make your own Roman face pot. Fragments of at least 50 of these pots have been found in York, ranging from jars with simple facial features added into the clay, to fully sculpted head-shaped urns, complete with intricate hairstyles. Despite finding so many, archaeologists don’t quite know why they were made, but there are lots of theories!

Come along to learn more about these fascinating finds and let your imagination take over whilst designing your own face pot.

£3.00 per person, pay on arrival.

Join us at DIG during the Eboracum Roman Festival and explore all things Roman! Get up close with real 2000-year-old finds on your DIG tour and explore 40 years of Roman archaeology from across York in our galleries, giving exciting glimpses into life and death in a bustling Roman city. It is also your last chance to see the ‘Soundmarks’ exhibition, where soundscapes and visual art come together and invite you to imagine the possibilities of past worlds, all inspired by Roman archaeological discoveries. You can learn more about Soundmarks here: Soundmarks.

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Date: Monday 26 May 2025, All Day
Venue: York Castle Museum

Included in general admission 

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Date: Tuesday 27 May 2025, All Day
Venue: Yorkshire Museum

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Date: Tuesday 27 May 2025, All Day
Venue: Yorkshire Museum

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Date: Tuesday 27 May 2025, All Day
Venue: York Castle Museum

Included in general admission 

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Date: Tuesday 27 May 2025, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Venue:

This event is organised by York Civic Trust.

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Date: Tuesday 27 May 2025, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Venue: Dig

A Gladiator Cemetery in York? Exploring the evidence, a talk by David Jennings, CEO York Archaeology

27 May 2025 | 7pm – 8.30pm | Yorkshire Museum (updated location), York | £5 per person | Book now

Recent news reports of the only physical evidence of a Roman man having been bitten by a lion, found in a Roman cemetery in York, raise the prospect of an encounter in the Roman arena as seen in numerous film and TV representations of the ancient world.

In this talk, we will review this latest evidence of a potential Gladiator cemetery alongside the extraordinary evidence from the other 81 people found in the excavations, 40 of whom had been decapitated and a number of whom displayed many unusual or distinctive characteristics.

We will dive deep into the world of these men, think about their lives, how they met their end and were laid to rest, giving you the chance to think about the evidence and decide for yourselves what the archaeology is telling us. 

Please note: the talk will show images of skeletons, showing evidence of injuries to bones and images from the classical world (Roman mosaics and sculptures) that show scenes of violence (including animals) and from the arena.  Given the archaeological evidence we will also talk about violence in the past.

Due to popular demand the talk will now take place in the Tempest Anderson Hall at the Yorkshire Museum.

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Date: Wednesday 28 May 2025, All Day
Venue: Yorkshire Museum

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Date: Wednesday 28 May 2025, All Day
Venue: Yorkshire Museum

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