Meet Ancient Peru's own Grumpy Cat

Boing Boing ^ | Jul 31, 2013 | Madeleine Johnson

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Grumpy Cat, Shocked Cat, Lil Bub – their images are the currency of the web, passed between friends, family, and co-workers. When they go viral, funny cat pictures heal daily drudgery with a dose of furry, cuddly cheer. But, in terms of the reverence they receive, these cats are hardly the first of their kind. Ancient cultures had cat memes too, and archaeologists have their own term for them: feline motifs.

The word meme, itself a meme, feels ultra-modern, but was coined in the 1970s by Richard Dawkins to refer to any non-genetic unit of replicated information. And it would be chronocentric to presume this term applied only to the proverbial Caturdays following its contemporary articulation. Some archaeologists, known as evolutionary archaeologists, incorporate memetics into their explanations of cultural transmission and change. In their view, cultural evolution, or the speciation of different cultures, happens by selective forces acting on cultural memes, motifs and styles.

We can look back about two thousand years and see cat memes on objects made in the Americas before Columbus set boot here. In fact, the feline motif is a powerful point of acccess to Pre-Columbian cultures, as it was a common from the Mississippi to the tip of South America.

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Pix at source. Thanks to Gefn for the link!

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[afraidfortherepublic]

Brilliant! Our forebears had a good sense of humor.

[Gefn]

I think kitties ruled the memes or the Cheezeburgers. Hurray for the kitties!!!!

[Slings and Arrows]

Huzzah!

[martin_fierro]

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Similar disposition too.

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You need a good laugh between the human sacrifices.

[Standing Wolf]

Frisky the wonder tigress says she's not impressed, and that was not a good reason to disturb her beauty nap, and she expects a tin of treat chow in compensation, and if she doesn't get it, she's going to tell the Great Cat.

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Fear the wrath of Ceiling Cat!

[Caipirabob]

LOL...

[P.O.E.]

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Doesn’t look very Peruvian.

[P.O.E.]

It was probably shipped to Egypt from Atlantis by mistake.

[Daffynition]

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Slings and Arrows.

[Lazamataz]

[Lazamataz]

[Slings and Arrows]

Nice hieroglyphics.