Emir Filipovic, assistant professor at the Sarajevo Faculty of Philosophy, found the ancient paw prints while trawling the archives of Dubrovnik to research for his doctorate.

In and among the registers of the Republic of Dubrovnik he found cat’s paw prints, which he then photographed.

He said he was surprised by the popularity of his photographs on social networks and in the foreign media.

Source: Twitter, Emir O. Filipovic

“The document on which [cat] prints were made dates from March 11, 1445,” he said.

“The prints were most likely made while the document was being made, or some time then…but the possibility that they were made later cannot be excluded,” he added.

“While the writer was writing the document a cat probably passed by him and since the paint was near the book…the cat spilled it, dipped his paws in it and passed over the document and thus left its trace in history,” Filipovic explained.

The paw print was made on a document that the Republic of Dubrovnik wrote to traders and nobles at the time.