Hannah O'Regan

I have frequently been asked when I talk about the BOB project, “did the bears hibernate”? We can answer this question in two ways: by looking at what we know about modern bears, and by looking at archival accounts.

These are pots modelled on bears used in baiting. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and poses, but are most frequently shown sitting upright on their hindlegs with a dog between their front paws.

Two months ago, I had the privilege of travelling with some early modern bear bones from Oxford to Nottingham. These bear bones were found during excavations by MOLA in Southwark in London, and were analysed for zooarchaeology and isotopes in Nottingham, before being taken to Oxford to be sampled for ancient DNA analysis.