Ancient man survived brutal lion attack, suffered lifelong damage: ‘Extremely rare’

Archaeologists studying a Late Eneolithic burial in eastern Bulgaria uncovered skeletal evidence of a prehistoric lion attack that a young man survived thousands of years ago.(iStock;Veselin Danov)

Those wounds suggest an attack by a large carnivore — and interestingly, the wounds appeared to have healed, meaning he survived the encounter.

The study authors saidthe injury occurredduring adolescence, possibly between the ages of 10 and 18.

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Karastoyanova headed the zooarchaeological analysis and credited her colleagues Veselin Danov, Petya Petrova and Viktoria Ruseva with documenting, interpreting and analyzing the skeleton, respectively.

“There is direct archaeological evidence for interactions between humans and lions,” said Karastoyanova.“More than 15 lion remains have been identified atprehistoric sitesacross Bulgaria, some bearing cut marks that indicate hunting and dismemberment.”

“These injuries would have made independent survival impossible [and] strongly suggest prolonged care and support from the surrounding community.”

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She added, “The highest concentration oflion remainscomes from sites along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, such as Durankulak and the Sozopol area.Where this individual was buried lies within the same broader region, making encounters between humans and large predators a realistic possibility.”

She observed that such skeletal evidence of prehistoric animal attacks on humansis “extremely rare.”

Researchers say puncture wounds found on a young man’s skull indicate an encounter with a large carnivore during Bulgaria’s Late Eneolithic period.(Veselin Danov)

“Combined with other impairments, these injuries would have made independent survival impossible [and] strongly suggest prolonged care and support from the surrounding community.”

Karastoyanova was struck by the fact that the man survived for months after the attack — which she said “provides rare insight into resilience and social caregiving in Eneolithic societies.”

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Interestingly, Karastoyanova noted thatthe man’s graveis among the poorest in the necropolis, with no grave goods.

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“This contrasts sharply with the nearby Varna Eneolithic Necropolis, dating to the same period, which contains some of the world’s earliest and richest gold burials,” she said.

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The necropolis was discovered in the Thracian region of eastern Bulgaria, which is seen here.(iStock)

“This juxtaposition highlights the strong social diversity of Eneolithic societies, where wealth inequality coexisted with evidence for care and support of vulnerable individuals.”

Roman cemeteryoutside of York, England, bore signs of a lion wound.