Running Weasel, Crouching Lion and Lurking Cat

The article addresses finds of bones of carnivores of the families Felidae and Mustelidae in the South-West of modern Ukraine in the context of domestication of their individual representatives. Published finds come from the monuments of Orlovka/Kartal (layers of cultures of Cernavoda, the Thracian Hallstatt and the first centuries AD) and Novoselskoe (Thracian Hallstatt). Bones of a wild forest cat, a lion, a domestic cat, a rock marten and a marbled polecat have been identified in the archeozoological materials. Paw prints of another small predator, weasel, were found on a fragment of Roman tile. Accounts from ancient writers mention the practice of using representatives of the marten family and domestic cats, but much later in time, for the elimination of mouse-like rodents. Archeozoological materials from the sites in the Lower Danube region confirm the appearance of a domestic cat on the territory of the South-Western part of modern Ukraine only in Roman time

Archaeology · Biology · Context (archaeology · Domestication · Geography · Habitat · Marten · Mustelidae · Predation · Weasel · Zoology · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Animal Diversity and Health Studies · Linguistic and Cultural Studies · Ecology