Cat Left a Pawprint in a 2,000-Year-Old Roman Roof Tile

[Judi Lynn]

While excavating a highway in Lincolnshire UK, archaeologists found thousands of artifacts, including tiles with dog, cat and deer prints




Roman roof tile with its cat print (Lincolnshire County Council)


Cats have put their pawprints on just about everything these days (they've even made it into space). Now, a new find in Great Britain shows that they were even making their mark during the Roman era. Sarah Lascow at Atlas Obscura reports that archaeologists building a new highway outside the city of Lincoln have discovered a 2,000-year-old roof tile embossed with a little cat’s paw.

Paul Whitelam at Lincolnshire Live reports that the pawprint was discovered by researchers from Network Archaeology, a company that is digging up cultural materials in the route of the Lincoln Eastern Bypass. It’s believed that after the roof tiles were crafted out of red clay and set in the sun to dry, a cat accidentally (on purpose) stepped on one of the tiles, leaving its mark.

While most Roman-era buildings were made of wood and thatch, the buildings excavated in the road bed were constructed of stone and brick, which, along with the roof tiles indicates that the set of buildings were likely part of a compound owned by wealthy Romans.

Whitelam reports that the cat print isn’t the only mark left by animals on the roof tiles. At the same site, the researchers have found tiles including deer hoof marks and dog prints. It’s also not known whether the little cat was a domestic variety, which the Romans kept around to hunt mice and rats, or whether the print could come from a species of wild cat native to Great Britain that was checking out the drying tiles.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cat-left-pawprint-2000-year-old-roman-roof-tile-180963556/#h2iXlW2j34tFHkG1.99

[Throck]

1. Cat left a paw print in my hot pizza once.

Hot foot, kitty stay off the table.