In this morning’s Globe and Mail: “A paper published today in the journal Science records the discovery of a cat that may have been a pet, buried 9,500 years ago in a Neolithic village on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.”
This is of interest particularly because cats weren’t native to Cyprus: the people who settled the island in pre-Bronze Age times had to bring with them all the animals they needed…or wanted.
“The body of the eight-month-old kitten was in its own burial hole about 40 centimetres from where a human body had been laid to rest with polished stones, axes, ochre, flint tools and 24 seashells.
“The head of each body points the same way.
“Jean-Denis Vigne, the scientist from the department of ecology and biodiversity management of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris who excavated the site…said it’s clear from the position of the cat’s body in relation to that of the human and from the burial rites it underwent that a “special friendship” existed between them that ran through life and afterlife.”
…As I type this, Beemer’s asleep in the living room window, Goodman’s asleep on the couch, Bubble’s asleep on the other couch, and Squeak is asleep on a chair in the kitchen, waking up occasionally to keep an eye on me when I come in to do something.
It’s nice to be part of a tradition…
