Thread by @WLCrittersClass

1/x And now for student #zooarchaeology thread #2 for tonight's Mighty Stripes battles: #TEAMWILDCAT which should have gone last week but I told the student THAT OBVIOUSLY THEY WOULD WIN so she could wait until next week. Ooops. Thread by Taylor M. #WLCrittersClass #2023MMM

2/x My beloved combatant for #2023MMM is the wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) AKA the European Wildcat. It’s the FIERCEST animal of the Mighty Stripes! Archaeological evidence from Cyprus and Göbekli Tepe reveal more about their significance. #WLCrittersClass

3/x #2023MMM #WLCrittersClass The Felis genus first appeared ~3.4 million years ago. Felis sylvestris is NOT the wild ancestor of domesticated cats, which came from the African wildcat, Felis lybica. The skull below is Felis lybica (citation in AltTxt).

When hunter-gatherers became sedentary (staying in one place), Felis lybica began its relationship with humans as a commensal animal (it was tolerated b/c it fed on the rodent pests that infested the earliest stored grain). But that's NOT F. sylvestris! #2023MMM #WLCRittersClass

5?/x But F. sylvestris DOES appear archaeologically just a bit earlier! Evidence from the fascinating sight of Göbekli Tepe (9,600-8,200 BCE) reveals alongside of the monumental structures built by hunter-gathers, 21 wildcat bones (NISP) were found!
#WLCRittersClass #2023MMM

[Prof's note: Felis lybica and Felis sylvestris overlapped in the area of the earliest cat domestication in SW Asia, complicating the story of why cats were tamed & then domesticated in the first place. It would help if more research focused on this... ]
#2023MMM #WLCrittersClass

7?/x #WLCrittersClass #2023MMM
So what is significant about 21 wildcat bones excavated from Göbekli Tepe? This reveals even more insight into the special status of cats in early Neolithic societies.

8?/x Citations #2023MMM #WLCrittersClass