Archaeologists have discovered ancient paw prints and hoof prints on 2,000-year-old Roman tiles in England.
At least one of the tiles is tainted with dog paw prints, and one is marked with the hoof prints of a sheep or a goat that trampled on the clay before it was dry, researchers said.
The tiles were found in the Blackfriars area of Leicester, the English city where the long-lost bones of King Richard III were discovered under a parking lot in 2012.
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A company, called Wardell Armstrong Archaeology, was brought in to dig at a site where a construction company plans to build student housing.
The tiles were found in layers of rubble that had been laid down as a hard base for subsequent floors, but the artefacts' original context is unclear, said Nick Daffern, a senior project manager with Wardell Armstrong Archaeology.
"We don't know if the tiles were originally part of an earlier building or were bought in from elsewhere specifically to raise and stabilise ground," Daffern told 'LiveScience'.
In addition to the animal-printed tiles, Roman tweezers, brooches, coins and painted wall plaster were also discovered.
Researchers also unearthed traces of a large Roman building - perhaps a basilica, with a peristyle, or columned porch - that was largely robbed of its masonry during the medieval era for other construction projects.
