2000-Year-Old Cat Paw Prints Discovered on Tile

news.discovery.com ^ | Jul 30, 2015 01:26 PM ET | by Rossella Lorenzi

[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

[Red Badger]

Kitty PinGGG!........................

[gov_bean_ counter]

Cat on a Hot Clay Roof...

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Roman Britons must have had a special liking for cats,

Perhaps there were a lot of rats around?

[Biggirl]

PING this over to Slings And Arrows.

[Bubba_Leroy]

2,000 years ago someone was really pissed off that the damned cat walked across his drying tile.

[ColdOne]

About 2 years ago I found a small rock the thickness of a nickel and about the size of a half dollar with a small paw print in it.

[TexasCajun]

Liberals can find and see a paw print from 2000 years ago.

But they refuse to see an unborn baby's heart beat and arms move inside a woman's womb.

[Slings and Arrows]

[Slings and Arrows]

You did that on purpose.

[Slings and Arrows]

Cool! Got a pic?

[LostInBayport]

Awesome story! The cat cemented his or her place in history.

[ColdOne]

I was just thinking about how to post that. I will work on that maybe later today or tomorrow.

[Olog-hai]

. . . and didn’t fix it.

[Monkey Face]

He needs a DRINK most likely!

[TexasCajun]

The proper response should be:

-DRINK-

Woo-Hoo -- Friday.

[Biggirl]

Saw the video today. Rare wild cat color.

http://www.onenewspage.us/video/20150730/3147687/Four-Newborn-White-Lion-Cubs-Born-in-Zoo.htm

[chajin]

“...what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil
Must give us paws.”

[Biggirl]

Showing they NEED a drink of water. Hot over where that zoo is. :) =^..^=

[TexasCajun]

I've got a big international order held up at UPS/US Customs.

...I need more than one. hehe