What does a bear baiting assemblage look like?: Interdisciplinary analysis of an early modern “sport”

Bear baiting was a popular and culturally important form of entertainment in Shakespeare’s England. It occurred all over the country, but was most formalised in Bankside, London, a key early modern entertainment hub. Here, we bring together zooarchaeological, stable isotope and archival evidence from nine archaeological sites in Bankside to define features specific to bear baiting. We then provide a model for identifying bear baiting assemblages in the archaeological record of England and beyond.