Dr Hannah O'Regan - Shakespeare's competition: the grisly world of British bear-baiting

Dr Hannah O'Regan from the Department of Archaeology has written an article on the popularity of 'Bear-baiting' during medieval and early modern times.

"Bear-baiting was very popular in medieval and early modern times, attracting everyone from servants to royalty. Single or multiple dogs were set loose to bite or worry the bears. To prevent escapes (and the audiences being mauled) the bears were chained to stakes in the centre of the arena."

Dr Hannah O'Regan
Taken from Shakespeare's competition: the grisly world of British bear-baiting (The Conversation)

The article has been published on the academic news site The Conversation.

You can find out more about Dr O'Regan's study of the archaeology of bears by following @archeobears on Twitter