The Warrior and the Cat: A Re-Evaluation of the Roles of Domestic Cats in Viking Age Scandinavia

Matthias Toplak

doi:10.37718/csa.2019.10

Abstract

The role of cats in Viking Age society is little investigated and has been dominated by uncritical adoptions of medieval mythology. Based on literary sources, the domestic cat is often linked to cultic spheres of female sorcery. Yet the archaeological evidence indicates an ambivalent situation. Cat bones from many trading centres show cut marks from skinning and highlight the value of cat fur. In contrast, the occurrence of cats in male burials points rather to a function as exotic and prestigious pets. The influence of Old Norse mythology on the traditional interpretation of cats as cultic companions therefore needs critical reconsideration. For this, a broad range of literary and historical sources – from Old Norse literature to Old Irish law texts – will be analysed and confronted with the archaeological evidence for domestic cats in Viking Age Scandinavia. The results will be discussed on a broader theoretical approach, involving concepts such as agency, and embedded in current research on human-animal-relations in order to achieve a more nuanced perspective on the roles and functions of cats in day-to-day reality as well as in the burial context.

Highlights

IntroductionThrough the recent ‘animal turn’ in archaeology (see Andersson Cederholm et al eds 2014) understanding of human-animal relations has increasingly been regarded as a research question of the highest importance for the interpretation of prehistoric societies (see especially Ryan & Crabtree eds 1995; Pluskowski ed. 2005, 2012)
Animals and agencyThrough the recent ‘animal turn’ in archaeology understanding of human-animal relations has increasingly been regarded as a research question of the highest importance for the interpretation of prehistoric societies
Their increasing occurrence in infant burials thereby contradicts the classic interpretation of cats as being primarily associated with seiðr or other cultic-ritual aspects, as do the finds of cat bones in the burials of weaponcarrying males, or cats as decorative elements within Viking Age art – for example as the ‘gripping beast’ in Borre style (Steuer 1994:650; Reichstein et al 2000:334–335) – on swords, sword chapes, horse gear or other artefacts (Hedenstierna-Jonson 2006) that are associated with the male sphere (Steuer 1994:659–660)

Summary

Introduction

Through the recent ‘animal turn’ in archaeology (see Andersson Cederholm et al eds 2014) understanding of human-animal relations has increasingly been regarded as a research question of the highest importance for the interpretation of prehistoric societies (see especially Ryan & Crabtree eds 1995; Pluskowski ed. 2005, 2012). Beside the increasing occurrence of cats in settlements from the Migration period onwards, rising appreciation of domesticated cats is evident from the growing numbers of finds of cat bones in graves in the Vendel Period and especially in the Viking Age. As mentioned above, cats were used as grave goods in occasional burials from the late Roman Iron Age onwards, as for example in a female burial from Överbo in Västergötland, Sweden, dating to the second century AD (Jennbert 2011:67). These increasingly closer relations between humans and domesticated cats can be detected from changes in dentition and growth of many cat populations in several settlements and early towns, with increasingly less species-appropriate nutrition based on kitchen refuse (McCormick 1988:223–224; Benecke 1994:213, 229; McCormick & Murray 2007:116; Poole 2015:873–874)

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Discussion

Conclusion