Episode 13

Meow and Then: Cats Through the Ages

It wouldn't be the internet if there weren't cats, so this week is the purr-fect op-paw-tunity to talk about Felis catus. Apologies (a-paw-logies? No? Ok, we'll stop) in advance, there's an odd crackling in the final minutes, but don't let that stop you from learning all about the history of kitties, their domestication, and some of their silly antics from the past several millennia.

If you're still itching for more information, check out these sources:

Domestic Cat (National Geographic)

Cats Domesticated Themselves, Ancient DNA Shows (National Geographic)

The Natural History of the Cat (Alley Cat Allies)

Abbott, Ian; Department of Environment and Conservation (2008). "Origin and spread of the cat, Felis catus, on mainland Australia: re-examination of the current conceptual model with additional information" Conservation Science Western Australia Journal (7).

Cats Are Ruthless Killers (Business Insider)

The Crazy Story Of A Cat Named Tibbles Who Killed Off A Whole Species Of Bird (Business Insider)

Curious Cat Walks Over Medieval Manuscript (National Geographic News)

This medieval manuscript curses the cat who peed on it (Gizmodo)

This cat was reared for one reason: to be mummified (BBC)

Early Taming of the Cat in Cyprus (Science)

A Roman Era Pet Cemetery: 86 Cat Burials Discovered in Egypt (Ancient Origins)

“Witch Cottage”? No. Cat Burial? Maybe. (Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives)

The archaeology of the domestic cat (Current Archaeology)

How cats conquered the world (and a few Viking ships) (Nature)

Dogs and cats may have been involved in Maya rituals (The Economist)

They’re talking about cats from the genus Panthera, not Felis

Ancient Native Americans May Have Had Pet Bobcat (Live Science)

Bobcats also aren’t Felis, they’re Lynx

A Brief History of Cats in Asian Culture (Pearl River Mart)

Cats in the Ancient World (Ancient World Encyclopedia)

‘I can haz genomes’: cats claw their way into genetics (Nature)

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The Dirt Podcast
Archaeology, Anthropology, and our shared human past.

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The Dirt Podcast

As science communicators in anthropology and archaeology, we hosts of The Dirt acknowledge that we hold a position of considerable privilege and opportunity, and commit ourselves to continuous learning, unlearning and reflection. We recognize that our disciplines, as well as our own lives, are rooted in and propped up by settler colonialism, white supremacy, and dispossession.

We now reside on the stolen ancestral territory of the Shawnee and Haudenosaunee and on the lands of the Muscogee and Cherokee Nations, but over its lifetime, The Dirt has also been produced on the unceded traditional territory of the Piscataway Conoy and Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians, as well as that of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Patwin and Miwok peoples and all those dispossessed by Cession 296. We offer our show as a platform for Indigenous scholarship, history, and cultural expression, through citation and conversation, and we welcome the opportunity to host and compensate Indigenous scholars of archaeology and anthropology as interview guests.

Likewise, we encourage all listeners who reside in settler-colonial states to learn about on whose land they reside, their place in the ongoing process of colonization, and how to contribute materially to reparations and Indigenous sovereignty.