Cats are cherished pets in the United States today, with nearly 74 million living in over 42 million households. But these animals didn’t always call the Americans home. Domestic cats only arrived about 500 years ago, brought by European explorers.
Now, a new study has uncovered what may be the earliest evidence of house cats in the U.S. Researchers have identified the remains of two domestic cats in a 466-year-old Spanish shipwreck off the coast of Florida. Their findings are published in the journal American Antiquity.
The remains were found in the wreckage of the Emanuel Point II, a Spanish ship that sank in September 1559 near present-day Pensacola, Florida. The vessel was part of an expedition led by Tristán de Luna y Arellano, who sailed north from Mexico with a fleet of 11 ships. The fleet was anchored near the Spanish settlement of Santa María de Ochuse when a hurricane struck, sinking six ships and pushing another inland. Between 1992 and 2016, archaeologists located three of the wrecks.
Divers recovered many artifacts from the sunken ships, including broken jars that once held olive oil, wine, or water. They also found remains of animals like cockroaches, rats, and two domestic cats—one adult and one juvenile.
The cats may have been brought on board to catch rodents. Over time, they likely grew close to the sailors. Analysis of the adult cat‘s bones showed it ate a diet rich in fish and meats such as pork, poultry, and beef. This suggests the cat was fed by the crew, possibly because it had done its job well and rid the ship of pests—or simply because the sailors liked it.
“Cats may have been kept to control rats and mice,” the researchers wrote. “But this doesn’t mean they weren’t also cared for and treated kindly.”
The diet findings also suggest the cats were not meant for food or fur. In some parts of medieval Europe, cats were used for both. For instance, a Spanish cookbook from 1560 included a recipe for roasted cat, and cat skeletons from that period often show signs of skinning or butchering. But the researchers say that’s not the case with these Florida shipwreck cats.
Domestic cats were first tamed in the Middle East about 12,000 years ago. By 400 B.C.E., they had spread across the Mediterranean. The first cats to reach the Americas may have arrived with Christopher Columbus, though his records don’t mention them. Remains of cats have been found in present-day Haiti, where Columbus landed in 1492. But since he never reached the mainland U.S., cats likely arrived through later voyages, like Luna y Arellano’s.
DNA tests on the Emanuel Point II cats confirmed they were of European origin.
“The Spanish expeditions in Florida were likely the first time domestic cats set foot in what is now the U.S.,” said lead author Martin Welker, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona, in an interview with Live Science.
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