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Outputs (17)

Bear journeys in early modern England (2025)
Journal Article
Davies, C., Bloxam, A., O’Regan, H., Charlton, S., Lewis, L., & Wright, E. (2025). Bear journeys in early modern England. Seventeenth Century, 40(2), 203-222. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268117X.2025.2461368

This article offers unprecedented insight into the domestic movements of early modern commercial entertainment producers based on fresh archival and archaeological details about bears and bearwards, centring on a surviving two-month journey record.... Read More about Bear journeys in early modern England.

What does a bear-baiting assemblage look like? Interdisciplinary analysis of an Early Modern ‘sport’ (2025)
Journal Article
Wright, E., Davies, C., Lamb, A., Miller, H., Rielly, K., Charlton, S., Kesson, A., Larson, G., Lewis, L., & O'Regan, H. (2025). What does a bear-baiting assemblage look like? Interdisciplinary analysis of an Early Modern ‘sport’. Antiquity, 99(404), 536-552. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.228

Bear baiting was a popular form of entertainment in Shakespearean England that was staged across the country but formalised in the Early Modern entertainment hub on Bankside, London. Here, the authors bring together zooarchaeological, stable isotope... Read More about What does a bear-baiting assemblage look like? Interdisciplinary analysis of an Early Modern ‘sport’.

Who Gets Buried with a Bear? The Inclusion of Wild Animals in the Cremation Rite of Eastern England and Northern Germany (Fourth to Eighth Century CE) (2024)
Book Chapter
Squires, K., O'Regan, H., & Grimm, O. (in press). Who Gets Buried with a Bear? The Inclusion of Wild Animals in the Cremation Rite of Eastern England and Northern Germany (Fourth to Eighth Century CE). In Beast and human. Brepols Publishers

Cremation was the dominant mortuary practice amongst Germanic groups on the European continent before the coming of Christianity. Likewise, it was also a prominent rite in early medieval England (fifth to seventh centuries CE), particularly so in the... Read More about Who Gets Buried with a Bear? The Inclusion of Wild Animals in the Cremation Rite of Eastern England and Northern Germany (Fourth to Eighth Century CE).

Brown bears in burials and entertainment in later prehistoric to modern Britain (c. 2400 BC – AD 1900s) (2023)
Book Chapter
O'Regan, H. (2023). Brown bears in burials and entertainment in later prehistoric to modern Britain (c. 2400 BC – AD 1900s). In O. Grimm (Ed.), Bear and Human Facets of a Multi-Layered Relationship from Past to Recent Times, with Emphasis on Northern Europe. Volume 1 (187-208). Brepols Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TANE-EB.5.134334

The brown bear, Ursus arctos, was a native British mammal, but is now extinct. This chapter briefly explores the history of the native brown bear before turning to the anthropogenic evidence for bears in prehistoric and later Britain. There are two m... Read More about Brown bears in burials and entertainment in later prehistoric to modern Britain (c. 2400 BC – AD 1900s).

‘Why so high?’ Examining discrepancies between the Sr biosphere map and archaeological tooth data from the Peak District, England (2023)
Journal Article
O'Regan, H. J., Wilkinson, D. M., Wagner, D., & Evans, J. (2023). ‘Why so high?’ Examining discrepancies between the Sr biosphere map and archaeological tooth data from the Peak District, England. Journal of Archaeological Science, 157, Article 105826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105826

The analysis of 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios in human and nonhuman tooth enamel is used worldwide for archaeological and forensic purposes to establish if an individual is likely to have grown up in the area from which their remains were excavated. The E... Read More about ‘Why so high?’ Examining discrepancies between the Sr biosphere map and archaeological tooth data from the Peak District, England.

Mammals as Palaeoenvironmental Indicators (2023)
Book Chapter
Louys, J., & O'Regan, H. (2023). Mammals as Palaeoenvironmental Indicators. In A. Mark Pollard, R. Ann Armitage, & C. A. Makarewicz (Eds.), Handbook of Archaeological Sciences (211-226). (Second Edition). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119592112.ch11

Mammals come in many shapes and sizes, from blue whales to pygmy shrews, and are able to live in a wide variety of habitats, from the polar regions to arid deserts and the open oceans. Archaeological and fossil mammal remains are usually found as eit... Read More about Mammals as Palaeoenvironmental Indicators.

Experiencing North American Bears in post-medieval Britain (2020)
Book Chapter
O'Regan, H. (2020). Experiencing North American Bears in post-medieval Britain. In H. A. Lapham, & G. A. Waselkov (Eds.), Bears: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Perspectives in Native Eastern North America. University Press of Florida

North American bears have had cultural significance outside the United States. This chapter explores the role of black, brown and polar bears in Britain, focussing on the period following the founding of the Hudson Bay Company in the late 1600s. Both... Read More about Experiencing North American Bears in post-medieval Britain.

Rural Life, Roman Ways? Examination of Late Iron Age to Late Romano-British Burial Practice and Mobility at Dog Hole Cave, Cumbria (2020)
Journal Article
O'Regan, H. J., Bland, K., Evans, J., Holmes, M., McLeod, K., Philpott, R., Smith, I., Thorp, J., & Wilkinson, D. M. (2020). Rural Life, Roman Ways? Examination of Late Iron Age to Late Romano-British Burial Practice and Mobility at Dog Hole Cave, Cumbria. Britannia, 51, 83-116. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000136

The scarcity of Romano-British human remains from north-west England has hindered understanding of burial practice in this region. Here, we report on the excavation of human and non-human animal remains and material culture from Dog Hole Cave, Haverb... Read More about Rural Life, Roman Ways? Examination of Late Iron Age to Late Romano-British Burial Practice and Mobility at Dog Hole Cave, Cumbria.

The presence of the brown bear Ursus arctos in Holocene Britain: a review of the evidence (2018)
Journal Article
O'Regan, H. J. (2018). The presence of the brown bear Ursus arctos in Holocene Britain: a review of the evidence. Mammal Review, 48(4), 229-244. https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12127

1. The brown bear, Ursus arctos, was Holocene Britain’s largest carnivoran and has appeared in recent rewilding discussions.
2. Despite widespread interest, we know very little about the species in Holocene Britain as few studies have been undertake... Read More about The presence of the brown bear Ursus arctos in Holocene Britain: a review of the evidence.