Archaeologists in Jerusalem discovered a fragment of a 1 200-year-old jug with a catʼs paw print. Scientists say this is the oldest evidence that cats "knead the dough".
Live Science writes about it.
The team suspects that the cat made the paw print when the potter left the newly made jug to dry in the sun before firing it in the kiln. The surface of the jug remained moist and pliable for some time.
"We think the cat was ʼkneading the doughʼ rather than just touching the jug because its claws were extended and left deep marks on the clay surface," says Shimon Gibson, an archaeologist at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who was one of the supervisors. excavations at Mount Zion, where the find was discovered.
Gretchen Kotter, director of the laboratory, noticed the markings on the pottery fragment during further excavations. The shape of the small impression, which contains part of a catʼs front paw, suggests that the animal was lying on the rim of the jug, perhaps to bask in the sun.
Cats "knead the dough" for various reasons. As kittens, they rhythmically stamp their paws on their motherʼs body to stimulate the flow of milk. Adult cats also purr, especially when they are with someone who gives them a sense of security, as they probably associate this behavior with the comfort they felt when feeding the kittens. It is also believed that kneading can help cats get rid of their smell.
A jug with cat footprints was found at the site of an ancient residential area near the top of Mount Zion. There, archaeologists reliably identified another ceramic vessel from the Abbasid period (750-1258 AD), which allowed them to date the jug fragment to approximately the 9th century.
In general, marks on ancient pottery—particularly from birds, leaves, or animals such as lizards and snakes—are common, with fingerprints being the most common.
At the Mount Zion dig site, archaeologists also discovered many small fingerprints on pottery fragments that likely belonged to the potterʼs children.
Currently, the fragment of the jug with the cat print has been processed and will soon be handed over to the Israeli authorities, who will decide what to do with it next.
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