NEW Bear baiting (a blood-sport where dogs were pitted against bears for entertainment) was popular in Shakespearean England. Archaeologists have determined a way to identify this popular, if unpleasant, sport. #AntiquityThread 1/13 🧵 Learn more 🆓 https://buff.ly/431MWS2 - ThreadSky

antiquityj.bsky.social • 4 days ago

NEW Bear baiting (a blood-sport where dogs were pitted against bears for entertainment) was popular in Shakespearean England. Archaeologists have determined a way to identify this popular, if unpleasant, sport.

#AntiquityThread 1/13 🧵

Learn more 🆓 https://buff.ly/431MWS2

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antiquityj.bsky.social•4 days ago

Bear baiting was popular across Early Modern (c. AD 1500–1700) Europe, especially in England. In London, baiting took place from c. 1540–1682 in formalised arenas on Bankside in Southwark, just down the road from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. 2/13

antiquityj.bsky.social•4 days ago

Most studies of entertainment in this period focus on the theatre, but it is likely the same people who went to watch Shakespeare's plays also went to see the baiting. Understanding animal baiting is therefore critical to understanding performance in Shakespeare's England. 3/13

antiquityj.bsky.social•4 days ago

By combining archival, zooarchaeological and stable isotope data from Bankside, researchers from several British institutions have created a model for identifying bear baiting in the archaeological record. 4/13

antiquityj.bsky.social•4 days ago

The zooarchaeology reflects the activities that took place on Bankside. Dramatic-playhouse deposits are dominated by sheep/goat and cattle, likely from food waste, whereas bear gardens contain predominantly horse and dog with a clear (albeit small) brown bear presence. 5/13

antiquityj.bsky.social•3 days ago

In particular, the large size of the dogs was unusual in comparison to other contemporary London sites. The relative size of the dogs against the bear would have been a key part of the baiting spectacle, and they were intentionally selected to be as big as possible. 6/13

antiquityj.bsky.social•3 days ago

Documentary and skeletal evidence suggest both the bears and dogs at the sites were largely adult or subadult. There is written evidence for recurrence of famous bear names approximately 14 years apart, suggesting some bears lived long lives. 7/13

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