Archaeologists have found a piece of an old jug with a cat's paw print. In Jerusalem, archaeologists discovered a fragment of a jug of ancient origin, on which the imprint of a cat's paw survived. This discovery is reported by LiveScience.
According to experts, the cat probably left its mark when the potter left the jug to dry in the sun before firing. At this time, the surface was still soft, which made it possible to preserve the “artistic” trace of the animal.
“Apparently, the cat was not just lying on the jug, but also “kneading dough”, since the print shows that its claws were extended, causing them to leave deep marks in the damp clay,” notes archaeologist Shimon Gibson, from the University of Northern Caroline, one of the leaders of excavations on Mount Zion.
The found fragment of a jug with a cat's footprint was probably used to store water, wine or olive oil. Discovered in an ancient residential area along with other pottery from the Abbasid period, suggesting a date for this jug of around the ninth century.
Thus, this cat lived in Jerusalem during the Abbasid Caliphate, when the city was under Islamic rule, but remained diverse, as both Jews and Christians lived here, as well as, of course, cats.