Cat Tales – Jerry D Moore

Enough of the cat’s skeleton and grave were preserved to support specific insights. First, the pit was dug just large enough to hold the cat; it was not a gaping garbage pit. Secondly, the cat’s different skeletal elements were in order, indicating that the cat was buried complete and intact. There were no soil deposits in the spaces between the limb joints, again suggesting that the cat was promptly buried, rather than gradually covered in sediments. The cat’s large size suggested a male, and its well-preserved and still-sharp teeth indicated a young adult, about eight months old when it died.

The excavators concluded that the cat was deliberately buried in association with the rich grave of the twenty-five-year-old man, a theory supported by ‘the disposition of the cat’s body, parallel to and almost symmetrical to that of the human’. They dismissed a sacrificial or religious purpose for the burial, and emphasizing the unique treatment of the animal: ‘this complete skeleton of a cat is the only animal in connection [with a human burial] ever found in eleven years of excavation at Shillourokambos .…

As for a human, the inhumation of an intact animal preserves the integrity of the form of the body after death, and retains for the animal an individualized status among all others of its species, which personifies it. The status of this large cat was certainly different from that of other cats, for which we have found broken mandibles, cut up and cooked in domestic deposits. The association between this human grave and the voluntary burial of a cat can thus be understood as evidence, through association in death and after death, of a strong relationship between two individuals, human and cat.’12 Thus, the archaeology of Shillourokambos points to a specific interaction between humans and animals.

This cat was a pet. In contrast to ancient Cyprus, separate cemeteries for humans and pets are required by law throughout the United States, although with some interesting variations.13 While forty-six states simply prohibit burying pets with people, in New York and New Jersey human ashes can be buried with pets, but only in a pet cemetery; animal ashes are not allowed in human graveyards.

In Pennsylvania, a cemetery can legally have three sectors: one for humans, one for pets, and a third area for both.

Jerry D. Moore is an archaeologist, writer, editor and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at California State University, Dominguez Hills. His books include The Prehistory of Home (2012, winner of the Society for American Archaeology Popular Book Award) among many others. He has also written for Archaeology Magazine, and he was the editor of Ñawpa Pacha: Journal of Andean Archaeology in 2011–2014 and 2017–2022. His writings have been translated into French, Spanish, Chinese, Turkish and Croatian. Moore lives in Long Beach, California, where he provides food service to two cats.

1kitap1.com/en Other titles of interest published by Thames & Hudson include: The Egyptian Myths A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends Garry J. Shaw With 95 illustrations Extinctions How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves Michael J. Benton With 70 illustrations Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World Philip Matyszak With 186 illustrations Faithful Unto Death Pet cemeteries, animal graves and eternal devotion Paul Koudounaris With 234 illustrations Be the first to know about our new releases, exclusive content and author events by visiting www.thamesandhudson.com www.thamesandhudsonusa.com www.thamesandhudson.com.au 1kitap1.com/en CONTENTS Introduction 1 Human Ancestors and Ancient Cats 2 Cave Cats 3 Charismatic Cats 4 From Predators to Pets 5 Seafaring Cats 6 Cemeteries, Catacombs and Cats on the Nile 7 Captive Cats in the Ancient Americas 8 Cats on the Edge of Town Conclusion NOTES PICTURE CREDITS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INDEX 1kitap1.com/en Introduction If you are reading this sentence, you probably have a cat nearby.

There are about 12 million cats in the United Kingdom, or 1.5 cats per household. A survey conducted in 2021 found that some 45 million American households owned one or more cats, a number that increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. About 50 per cent of US households own dogs and 40 per cent have cats, but since more households have multiple cats, there probably are more cats in the United States of America than there are any other pet.1 Of course, these estimates do not include feral cats, of which there are at least 50–70 million, with some estimates topping 100 million, in the United States alone.

Global estimates for feral cats are even greater, and biologists consider feral cats to be the most disastrous mammalian invasive species on Earth (after humans, of course).2 The differences between these estimates are less important than the obvious point: we humans live with a lot of cats. A protective icon made from gold sheet depicting the head of Sekhmet, the lioness who protected and nurtured royalty. Egyptian, Third Intermediate Period, 22nd–23rd Dynasty, c. 945–715 BCE.

Over the last two million years, cats and people have interacted in diverse and unexpected ways. The predecessors of your Kitty or Max – the two most popular cat names in the USA – were predators, not pets, who hunted our ancestors, as evidenced by fang holes in fossilized hominid skulls. Even as our ancestors became larger and more intelligent, cats remained a serious threat – feared, revered and respected.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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• Title: –
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