In 1991, hikers discovered the mummified remains of a man who died 5300 years ago in the Alps with an arrow stuck through his shoulder. His genetics show great affinity to modern Sardinia and it is thought if you have ancestors stem from the region between Sardinia and the Alps, there is a chance you could be related to Ötzi. Found in the Ötztal Alps between Italy and Austria, he was given the nickname Ötzi and represents Europe's oldest known natural mummy.

He is believed to have been murdered as the arrowhead in his left shoulder was a fatal wound. He had brown eyes, O-type blood, was lactose intolerant and probably had Lyme disease. Analysis of his colon showed Ötzi's second-to-last meal included ibex meat, cereals and plants. His last meal included red deer meat, grasses and cereals. He had a gap in his smile, lacked wisdom teeth and also had a fairly rare condition where he lacked the smallest ribs on either side.

The Birka female Viking warrior was a woman buried in the 10th century in Birka, Sweden and discovered in the 1870s. The grave was assumed to be a battle hardened man for 128 years until DNA analysis proved she was actually a high-ranking professional warrior. Shield-maidens are female warriors that take on male roles including wielding weapons and are depicted in many period figures, tapestries and brooches as well as mentioned by the famous Danish historian of the time, Saxo Grammaticus.

The grave chamber was made of wood and approximately 3.45m long and 1.75m wide. The body was in a sitting position and found earing garments of silk and silver. The grave contained a sword, an axe, a spear, armor-piercing arrows, a battle knife, two shields, two horses, one mare and one stallion. The grave also contained a game set with a board and pieces. This is considered evidence of her strategic thinking and indicating she was an officer who could lead troops into battle.

The Roman conquest of Britain began in 43 AD but resistance in the north was fierce. Roman General Quintus Petillius Cerialis led the 9th Legion into the north and founded Eboracum in 71 AD (which became York) Originally Eboracum was intended to be a military fortress aligned along the river Ouse measuring about 50 acres in size. This wooden camp was upgraded to stone in 108 AD and garrisoned by the 6th Legion. The famous Emperor Hadrian reportedly visited Eboracum in 122 AD in order to plan his great walled frontier, which would be named after him. Emperor Septimus Severus visited in 208 AD and made it his private base while campaigning against Scotland, and he became the first of three Roman Emperors who would die in Eboracum. In 237, the town became a colonia, the highest legal status any Roman city could attain as Eboracum was the largest town in the north and the capital of Britannia Inferior. This is exactly the time period from when these 7 gladiators hailed.

Detailed analysis of these gladiators from York revealed some fascinating results. The bones showed various degrees of wear and tear as one might expect from the dangerous sport: 6DRIF-18 revealed a spinal fracture of the first vertibrae, 6DRIF-21, 6DRIF-3, and 3DRIF-16 meanwhile have fractured forearms, ankles and wrists. 6DRIF-22 has a skull injury as well as a stab to the neck - his extra vertebrae did not seem to assist with his fate. 6DRIF-23 meanwhile had 4 cuts to his jaw and was fully decapitated - clearly not the best fate to have. Last but not least 3DRIF-26 is fascinating indeed - he had a left shoulder injury, fractured ribs, damage wrists - and from a genetic standpoint is a deviation from the rest. His background compared to ancient samples from the time period matches very close to Ptolemaic Egyptians or the Near East.