Ancient Humans and their Cats
While I was pondering upon the topic of my next article, I thought of writing about the evidence of dogs and their role in the lives of ancient humans. While recalling zooarchaeology classes from my masters days, it occurred to me that we were never taught about cat domestication. So I started exploring how and when did cats get introduced into the domestic households and consequently decided to write about it. Dogs have been domesticated as pets in every sense, however, cats are really only tamed. Dog remains have been reported in plenty from the archaeological record in contrast to the limited cat remains. Dogs had a purpose for being domesticated i.e. providing security in return for consistent food supply and shelter but I wonder what such purpose did cats serve when they first began living amidst human settlements? The relationship between cats and humans is believed to have started through commensalism. The term commensal simply means ‘eating at the same table’ or in this particu