The presence of the brown bear Ursus arctos in Holocene Britain: a review of the evidence

Abstract

The brown bear Ursus arctos was Holocene Britain's largest carnivoran and has appeared in recent rewilding discussions. Despite widespread interest, we know very little about the species in Holocene Britain, as few studies have been undertaken. This paper draws together information on the brown bear to examine its presence and extinction through evaluation of the archaeological and palaeontological evidence. Data were collected from published literature and museum catalogues. Information on the chronological date of archaeological sites, the number of bear specimens, and the body parts present were particularly sought. A total of 85 sites were identified, 57 are well‐dated, 25 are of uncertain date but are likely to be Holocene, and three have uncertain species identifications. Very few specimens from non‐anthropogenic sites (e.g. fens and caves) are well‐dated, skewing the data towards anthropogenic sites such as settlements and graves. Analysis of body part representation shows that the bear bones found in the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and most of the early medieval period are largely phalanges or metapodials, which are likely to be derived from skins. Other body parts are present during the Romano‐British, medieval, and post‐medieval period, indicating that live bears were present and were probably imported for entertainment. It seems that the brown bear was rare in Britain throughout the Holocene, and, based on current evidence, two extinction scenarios can be put forward: extinction in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age, or extinction in the early medieval period.

Biogeographical ‍distributions of trickster animals

“…If this is the case, we can hypothesize that the presence of real animals enhances the creation, adaptation or maintenance of corresponding trickster animals. The extinction rate of the tricksters, on the other hand, might be independent of the presence/absence of real animals because some carnivores' tales remain in the area where the corresponding real animals have gone extinct [33][34][35]. Although cultural extinction has been analysed theoretically and empirically [65,66], Berezkin's folklore database is not suitable for such analyses because dynamics of the presence/absence of folklore in each area are not available.…”

“…Folklore of some real carnivores remains in regions where these animals have gone extinct, e.g. bears in Britain [ 33 , 34 ] and wolves in Japan [ 35 ]. The distribution of real and fictional animals should be mismatched if motifs of fictional animals are transmitted freely across ecological conditions.…”

An Overlooked Gem of Pictish Art: The Cross-Slab Fragment from St Ringan’s Cairn in Aberdeenshire

“…40 A review of the bone evidence for the brown bear, Ursus arctos, in Britain shows that, while the date of extinction is still uncertain, by the early medieval period the presence of bears is most likely to relate to their importation from elsewhere. 41 Thus a Pictish sculptor could have seen a real bear or copied one from a manuscript, and in either case a small mistake such as the length of its tail could easily have crept in. The superbly delineated bear from Old Scatness in Shetland is surely the work, as Julie Bond argued, of someone who had seen a live animal.…”