Ancestors of domestic cats in Neolithic Central Europe: Isotopic evidence of a synanthropic diet

Abstract

Cat remains from Poland dated to 4,200 to 2,300 y BCE are currently the earliest evidence for the migration of the Near Eastern cat (NE cat), the ancestor of domestic cats, into Central Europe. This early immigration preceded the known establishment of housecat populations in the region by around 3,000 y. One hypothesis assumed that NE cats followed the migration of early farmers as synanthropes. In this study, we analyze the stable isotopes in six samples of Late Neolithic NE cat bones and further 34 of the associated fauna, including the European wildcat. We approximate the diet and trophic ecology of Late Neolithic felids in a broad context of contemporary wild and domestic animals and humans. In addition, we compared the ecology of Late Neolithic NE cats with the earliest domestic cats known from the territory of Poland, dating to the Roman Period. Our results reveal that human agricultural activity during the Late Neolithic had already impacted the isotopic signature of rodents in the ecosystem. These synanthropic pests constituted a significant proportion of the NE cat's diet. Our interpretation is that Late Neolithic NE cats were opportunistic synanthropes, most probably free-living individuals (i.e., not directly relying on a human food supply). We explore niche partitioning between studied NE cats and the contemporary native European wildcats. We find only minor differences between the isotopic ecology of both these taxa. We conclude that, after the appearance of the NE cat, both felid taxa shared the ecological niches.

Keywords: paleoecology; stable isotopes; synanthropic species; trophic niche; wildcat.

Fig. 1.

Location of Central European sites with the Late Neolithic remains of NE cats (modern range of wildcat taxa after Ottoni et al.) (18): a, cave sites with NE cat remains (Krucza Skała Rockshelter [KSR], Perspektywiczna Cave [PC], Shelter in Smoleń III [ShSIII], and Żarska Cave [ŻC]); b, the largest Late Neolithic settlement sites in the region (Bronocice [Br], Gniazdowice [Gn], Iwanowice [Iw], Niedźwiedź [Ni], Prandocin [Pr], and Szczepanowice [Sz]) (26, 28); c, other well-documented, Late Neolithic settlement sites (26, 27, 49, 85, 86) (the state of archaeological recognition of the western and northern parts of the area is weak); d, Neolithic flint exploitation and/or flint processing site complexes (30, 31, 86); and e, loess cover (87).

Fig. 2.

Schematic depiction of modifications of the isotopic composition of plants, herbivores, and carnivores in an agricultural landscape. (A) Modifications of the δ¹⁵N signal; theoretical values for human and dog include plant diet based on manured cereal grains, and meat of herbivores feeding on manured plants and cereal grains; felid signal ranges from diet of carnivores in natural habitats to carnivores feeding on herbivores (rodents) feeding on manured cereal grains. (B) Modifications of the δ¹³C signal. Data for isotopic shifts obtained from literature (44, 45, 47, 51, 52, 75, 88). TEF, trophic enrichment factor.

Fig. 3.

Data for δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values in bone collagen. (A) Late Neolithic animals and humans from Kraków–Częstochowa Upland (data for humans and domestic animals from literature are included) (64). (B) Roman Period animals and humans from Kuiavia (Northern Poland) (data for humans from literature) (89).

Fig. 4.

Isotopic groups of prey in the diet of Late Neolithic and pre-Neolithic–Early Neolithic felids. (A) groups of prey revealed by cluster analysis. (B) Proportions of these prey groups in the diet of the studied felids based on MixSIAR reconstruction.