Research overview: Viking Age cats, genetics and body size

Cats travelled with Norse traders and raiders, and their remains at Viking-age sites have informed studies of dispersal and body size. This overview surveys genetic and osteological evidence showing the Egyptian maternal lineage present at northern ports and discusses the surprising finding that medieval and Viking-era cats were often smaller than modern cats, contrary to the usual expectation that domestication or time increases body size. It considers how diet, climate and selection may have driven later size increases, and how cats functioned aboard ships and in trading towns as pest controllers and fur sources. The survey ties these threads to broader questions about how maritime networks moved cats and their genes across early medieval Europe.