No One Expected to Find Cats in This Shipwreck... And Yet, They Changed Everything

Daily Galaxy ^ | May 8, 2025 | Ashley Morgan

[SunkenCiv]

In a discovery that pushes back the timeline of domestic cats in North America, archaeologists have uncovered the earliest known feline remains in the modern-day United States.

The find comes from the Emanuel Point II shipwreck, one of the vessels in the doomed 1559 expedition led by Spanish conquistador Tristán de Luna y Arellano. Published in American Antiquity on April 14, the study sheds light not only on the fate of these cats but also on their role in early colonial ventures...

In September 1559, a powerful hurricane devastated the Spanish fleet anchored off the nascent settlement of Santa María de Ochuse.

Several of the eleven ships in the colonizing expedition were wrecked, including the vessel now known as Emanuel Point II, discovered by archaeologists in 2006. Among the many artifacts and remains, two skeletons -- one adult and one juvenile -- stood out.

Analysis confirmed these were Felis catus, or domestic cats. According to Martin Welker, a zooarchaeologist at the University of Arizona and co-author of the study, the cats provide the first direct evidence of felines reaching the U.S. mainland via Spanish explorers...

By comparing the bones with those of modern domestic cats and studying their chemical and DNA signatures, the scientists determined that the four-legged passengers were of European ancestry...

"What was interesting, is that our cat was not eating the rats on board the ship but had a diet more in line with what we'd expect for the sailors."...

Previous traces of cats have been linked to the Taíno settlement of En Bas Saline in modern-day Haiti, where Christopher Columbus landed in 1492. Yet he never reached the North American mainland, making the Luna expedition's felines the pioneer cats of the United States.

[Rockingham]

I think that we are not so much having a cat as being owned by one. Our food prep routines are quite similar, as if we are both a short order cook for our cat.

Now almost entirely an indoor cat, Buddy nevertheless likes to stand guard outside at night near the front door. He howls if another cat shows up. He then waits until I come outside to run the intruder off.

[MikelTackNailer]

All this way on a thread titled:

"No One Expected..." about ancient Spanish pursuits

and not a single reference to:

Tsk tsk.