A new discovery adds another element to the complex relationship between humans and felines in the prehistoric Americas. Archaeologists recently realized that a skeleton discovered at the Illinois Hopewell Burial Mounds had been misidentified as a dog. The bones actually belonged to a bobcat, probably between four and seven months old when it perished almost two thousand years ago. The bobcat burial was striking in its similarity to human interments, and is possibly the first decorated wildcat burial ever discovered.
In considering the implications of this discovery, the researchers dismissed the possibility that the bobcat had been sacrificed, because the skeleton did not show signs of any trauma. They decided it was not an intrusive burial because it so closely mirrored the style of Hopewell human burials. They also do not believe the cat was venerated as a wild predator, because its grave did not contain the ceremonial adornments present in coyote burial sites. The conclusion the researchers have drawn is that the bobcat had a much closer relationship to the humans who buried it—that is to say, it may have been domesticated, occupying a place within the residential sphere. Such a conclusion, according to the researchers, is further supported by two Hopewellian artifacts, an effigy pipe and a ceramic figurine, adorned with human-bobcat imagery.