Posted on 07/31/2015 12:45:07 PM PDT by Red Badger
The cat paw print on the Roman roof tile.
David Rice
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Paw prints made by a cat 2,000 years ago have been found on a Roman roof tile kept at a museum in south west England.
Dug up in Gloucester in 1969, the tile fragment had long lain unnoticed at Gloucester City Museum.
Only recently, a researcher spotted the cat’s paw on the tile while going through the finds from the 1969 archaeological excavation.
“At that time the archaeologists seem to have been more interested in digging things up than looking at what they found,” David Rice, curator at Gloucester City Museum, told Discovery News.
The cat is thought to have run across the wet clay tile when it was left out to dry in about AD100.
Despite the feline footprints, the Romans fired the tile, a type called tegula, and used it on the roof of a building in what became the Berkeley Street area of modern Gloucester.
It is possible the cat was a Roman army cat, the pet of a Roman soldier who stationed at the site.
The tile is now on display at the Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery.
“The marks are the only example for Roman domestic cats that visitors can see in the museum,” Rice said.
“I believe there are more cat paw prints found on ancient Roman tiles in Britain than anywhere else in the Roman Empire including Italy. Roman Britons must have had a special liking for cats,” he added.
Cat Paw Prints Found on 15th-Century Manuscript:
http://news.discovery.com/animals/pets/medieval-cat-paw-prints-found-on-15th-century-manuscript-130404.htm
When you succeed, please ping me.
I knew you didn’t mean it. Not enough froth on your mouth.
Roman Britons must have had a special liking for cats
But Romans didn’t care for Briton’s bulldogs.
Latin code has been found requiring that bulldogs be “tethered with a stout chain” when brought into public places.
The cat lobby ...
Not Cecil.
You found my Cat?
DRINK!
My Grandson swears there’s one in the woods encompassing our hillside here in Eastern KY.
I have heard what I believe to be a Mountain Lion at night here.
Maybe? We have plenty of Bobcats, and Coyotes.
Ping
This falls into the category of: “Is the Pope Catholic?”
When I lived in the Houston area, my entry hall was paved with Saltillo tile. I had a big doggie paw print in one of them. But, my neighbor had a Mexican footprint in hers. I thought it was charming.
Only if the cat’s name is Cecil.
Today you have to wonder........................
You win the internets today. Well played, sir.
It gives one paws.
Romans discovered Cats in Ancient Egypt and spread them all over their empire. Not as pets so much as mouse catchers. The Egyptian Religion of Isis also spred cats about as objects of worship (cats have never forgotten). Core to Isis worship was living forever—many Romans liked that idea.
....and one only.................
LOL
OMG, cats existed back then? Who woulda thought.......
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