The park superintendent announced that drawings by children depicting brutal images of gladiators and hunters fighting animals had been found at Pompeii's archeological site.
The sketches of gladiator stick figures were found during excavations in Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed by Mount Vesuvius's eruption around 2,000 years ago.
Archaeologists also discovered outlines of three little hands, two figures engaging in ball play, a hunting scene that might have included a boar, and two warriors resting flat on the ground.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the site's director, said that the simple line drawings on the wall of a home known as the 'Colonnaded Cenacle' were most likely created by children around the age of six or seven.
In a statement, Zuchtriegel said that it does not seem to be a problem only today between video games and social media.
He claimed that the difference is that in ancient times, the bloodshed in the arena was real and that few saw it as a problem with all the possible repercussions on the psycho-mental development of Pompeian children.
Furthermore, he said that psychologists from the Federico II University in Naples believed that the sketches showed events the children had witnessed rather than imagined.
On Tuesday, May 28, visitors to the park can view the drawings from suspended walkways above the dig as archaeologists continue to work on the site.
The drawings showed two gladiators fighting against what are probably meant to be wild boars while brandishing their weapons. Nearby lies the head of a predatory bird, which archaeologists speculate may have been an eagle.
Based on the park's description of the discovery, a boxing scenario also appears to have both boxers lying on the ground in a "knock-out."
