formidable team sheet assembled here #earlymodern

🔔⏰Just over 1 month to go! ⏰🔔

Call for papers: Modern British History and the 'Environmental Turn'

A two-day workshop organised by
@andrewseaton.bsky.social and myself at Lincoln College, Oxford, 16-17 September. Deadline for abstracts is 15 May.

Details in poster below!

A common crime in the #medieval and #earlymodern period is selling bull’s meat ‘unbayted’. But how did the prosecutors know if the bull had been baited or not? Did butchers have to keep records? And why not just sell it as cow meat rather than bull?

Open book showing a woodcut illustration of a bear

It's #WorldBearDay 🐻
To celebrate here's an adorable bear found in the pages of Conrad Gesner's Historia Animalium (c.1602).

Medallion with a bear, from a mosaic portraying animals in the House of the Protomes in Thuburbo Majus. Dated to the 4th century AD. National Museum of Bardo, Tunisia.

Fourth-century AD bear mosaic on the pavement of the theatre's orchestra built during the co-rule of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (AD 161–169). Bulla Regia, Tunisia.

Depiction of a bear on the Hunting scene mosaic from the House of Dionysus in Paphos, Cyprus. Dated to the late 2nd/early 3rd century AD.

Mosaic medallion with a depiction of a bear from Villa Romana del Casale in Sicily.

Happy #WorldBearDay! 🐻 Here are some depictions of bears on Roman mosaics.

Part of a Roman mosaic showing a slightly damaged, shaggy, dark-coloured bear in profile moving to the left. The bear's mouth is open and the claws are prominent.

For #MosaicMonday on #WorldBearDay, the wonderfully shaggy specimen in the Orpheus mosaic from Lyrbe in Turkey, now in the excellent Antalya Archaeological Museum.
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
(Thanks @romanpalace.bsky.social for highlighting this special ursine day.)

Mosaic depicting a person with a spear stabbing a bear in the neck.

This #WorldBearDay spare a thought for the bears made to fight in the amphitheatres of the #Roman Empire.

Often depicted in art such as this, actual physical evidence for fighting bears is rare.

(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

📷 Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0

🏺 #MosaicMonday #Archaeology

It’s World Bear Day. This little bronze bear is a Roman ampulla, or flask for liquids. It was possibly used by its owner to take oil to the bath house for a massage and scrape down.

Or it’s playing the piano.

🕰️ C3rd AD
🏛️📷Cleveland Museum of Art
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
#WorldBearDay

#WorldBearDay 🐻 In AD 124, during his journey through Asia, Hadrian founded a new city, which he named Hadrianotherae (‘Hadrian’s hunts’) to commemorate a successful bear hunt. The reason for the city's foundation is reflected in its coinage, with the head of a she-bear appearing on the reverse.

Cropped image from a book showing a colour illustration of a (massive) bear. It appears to have a cheeky expression on its face, and a little red tongue is sticking out of its mouth!

Good morning to everyone, but especially to all the bears, for today is their special day!

This illustration of a bear comes from 'Animated Nature' (1828) by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon.

📷 Reserve 590 BUF

#WorldBearDay #BearDay #RareBooks

An ancient mosaic showing a bear, walking from left to right across a plain white background. The bear's limbs are somewhat elongated and he wears a rather world-weary expression.

It's World Bear Day, so here's a bear who's had it with all this.
#MosaicMonday

Webinar Tomorrow - March 16th. #skystorians #medievalsky

Hear the latest #BoxOfficeBears in Dr Anna Bloxam’s webinar next Monday (March 16th) at 5pm. Info on the poster below. #medieval #bear #roads #routeways

Hear the latest #BoxOfficeBears in Dr Anna Bloxam’s webinar next Monday (March 16th) at 5pm. Info on the poster below. #medieval #bear #roads #routeways

Xhuwaji – Haida Grizzly Bear
Bill Reid
1990

In ancient Chinese mythology, pandas weren’t soft. They were “iron-eaters” and “sky iron bears,” the thunderous war-beasts of Chiyou, god of war. Fueled by metal and fire, they charged into battle against the Yellow Emperor. But when Chiyou fell, so did their rage.
Legends say 1/2

A foraging teenager was mauled by a bear 27,000 years ago, skeleton shows The remains of a teenage boy who lived around 27,000 years ago suggest he was attacked by a cave bear—some of the first direct evidence of a predator attacking an ancient human

The remains of a teenage boy who lived around 27,000 years ago suggest he was attacked by a cave bear—some of the first direct evidence of a predator attacking an ancient human

And there it is. Updated with the latest results from work with @thibaut-d.bsky.social & @cartapaniso.bsky.social & the @archaeobears.bsky.social #Boxofficebears , 50 mins of 🐻 from the lateglacial to present in Britain. So much more I could have said! Ta for the invite @geoffreymsmith.bsky.social!

Well that was fun! Thanks for hosting us @roseplayhouse.bsky.social

Tonight!!

Two mother polar bears and their respective cubs beating a hasty retreat from a large male who had just showed up in the neighborhood. Males are a risk to cubs. #BearSeason2025 #mammals 🌿

My photo collage shows four images of small animal figurines carved from amber during the Danish Mesolithic period. Top left: profile photo of the head, neck, and part of the front torso of an animal (bear?) facing left. Carved from deep orange amber. Found at Bølling Sø (lake) Central Jutland, Denmark. Top right: small almost complete figurine of an amber bear seen in profile facing right. The lower legs are incomplete. The ears, muzzle and mouth are defined. Carved from translucent orange amber. Washed up on a beach at Fanø, Denmark. Bottom left: small figurine in the shape of a bear(?) carved from dark orange amber. It is known asvthe Resen Bear. There is fine incised geometric ornamentation on the body. Found in a bog at Resen, Denmark. Bottom left: bright orange amber animal head shown in profile facing left. Found in 1952 at Egemarke in Denmark, it is known as the Egemarke Elk. It is decorated with incised bands of closely aligned parallel zig-zag lines. There are two circular perforations at the bottom of the neck. All on display at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.

Something lovely for the weekend!

Magical amber animals from the Mesolithic. Carved between 10,000-7,000 years ago.

Amber can generate static electricity⚡️ For their ancient owners, these small animals could give off sparks in the dark and make hair stand on end, as if by magic✨
📷 me

#Archaeology

A lone polar bear picks its way over a ridge of rounded grey rocks in dim, muted sunlight of late afternoon

One of my favourite polar bear photos I've taken to date. It was a weird, misty evening with just a sliver of sunlight coming through the fog, lighting up this bear on the rocks just outside of town. #mammals 🌿 #BearSeason2025

My photo collage shows four images of Roman-era clear-glass cups painted with colourful enamel decoration depicting animals from the Roman Arena. Known as ‘circus cups’, fourteen of which have been found in richly-furnished ‘princely’ graves in Denmark. Dated AD 200s. The top two images show two sides of the same cup. Top left: a brown lion with shaggy mane, its front and rear legs outstretched as if running at full speed. Top right: a green spotted leopard. Out of shot, a blue goat is being hunted down by the lion and the leopard. Bottom left: fragmentary glass cup decorated with a light brown lion with shaggy mane. Nose and lips outlined in black. Bottom right: image of a gladiator with green leggings and blue shield, and in front of him a large brown bear.

Roman glass cups with colourful enamel decoration of animals from the Roman arena. AD 200s.

Found in richly-furnished graves in Denmark. National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen. 📷 by me

#FindsFriday
#Archaeology

A momma polar bear sleeps curled up in a small patch of willows on the rocky tundra. Her cub sits behind her, leaning their head on her side.

A momma polar bear sleeps curled up in a small patch of willows on the rocky tundra. Her cub sits behind her, leaning their head on her side and dozing lightly.

When you're hungry, but Mom doesn't want to wake up.
#BearSeason #Mammals 🌿🐻‍❄️

We’re going - are you? Come and find out more about #archaeology and why it’s one of the best subjects ever @uniarchday.bsky.social in London on Oct 27th. 🧪🏺🔬🦴

I'm delighted, grateful, and a little dazed to be among this year's Philip Leverhulme Prize winners @leverhulme.ac.uk, and among such excellent company.
A little more on my research hopes at the @unisouthampton.bsky.social press release: www.southampton.ac.uk/humanities/n...

Sketch of a bear eating a honeycomb with a bee poised to sting it on the nose

#inktober2025 11)Sting. Quick one today as I’ve been out at a lovely folklore, art and archaeology session. Everything is about balancing risk and reward - for every sting there is the chance of honey!🍯

Sorry, bear emoji explainer:

Hezekiah Moscow was also a bear tamer 👍🏻

Boki the bear gets mice cake to celebrate brain surgery milestone Keepers in Kent say the operation was a

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...