Domestic cats (Felis catus) in Denmark have increased significantly in size since the Viking Age

ABSTRACT

The earliest finds of domestic cat in Denmark date back to the Roman Iron Age (c. 1–375 AD). Initially, cats occurred sparsely and only from the Viking Age (c. 850–1050 AD) did they become more frequent in numbers, though primarily in urban contexts and in connection with fur production. In medieval times, cats became beasts of pest control in rural settlements, manorial estates as well as in the expanding towns, where large and numerous refuse heaps attracted various rodents. To investigate size trends over time of the domestic cat (Felis catus) in Denmark, bone measurements and statistical analyses were performed on archaeological and modern material. Domestic cats were found to increase significantly in size over time since the Viking Age. Limb bones and mandibles exhibited the most significant change in increase (up to 16%), as compared to modern female cats, and tooth size the least (c. 5.5%). The most plausible explanations for such a size increase were improved living conditions caused by increased food availability and a possible shift in human usage of the cats, from a rat and mice captor to a well-fed and well-cared pet. Despite the observed increase in size, domestic cats have kept many osteological features indistinguishable from their wild progenitor.

KEYWORDS:

• Felis catus
• domestic cat
• size increase
• Middle Age
• Viking Age

Acknowledgments

Inge Bødker Enghoff, who was the BSc supervisor of Julie Bitz-Thorsen, is thanked for her help, guidance, and interest in this project. Carl Chr. Kinze is thanked for his much-appreciated comments and linguistic corrections of the manuscript. Further, Morten Steineke and the Museum of Copenhagen are thanked for help with dating the cat material of the Kongens Nytorv excavations. From the NHMD we thank Kristian Gregersen for helping us find the necessary material from the collections and Knud Rosenlund for always having his door open for questions. Finally, the two reviewers are thanked for their suggestions on improving this manuscripts.

Additional information

Funding

The work was carried out at the Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.