Evidence of Cat (Felis catus) Fur Exploitation in Medieval Iberia

Whilst the bones of domestic cats (Felis catus) are recovered from archaeological sites in Iberia routinely, they are rarely subjected to detailed analysis. Consequently, there is limited understanding of the nature of cat–human relations, especially in contrast to northern European regions. In this paper, we present a unique assemblage of 899 cat bones recovered from the medieval site of El Bordellet (Vilafranca del Penedès, Spain) and dated between the end of the 10th century ad and the beginning of the 11th century ad. Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis provides the first clear evidence of skinning related to cat fur exploitation in Christian medieval Iberia.