Cat's Paw Print Found on 1200-Year-Old Jug in Jerusalem

A fragment of a 1,200-year-old jug has been found in Jerusalem with a cat's paw print on it. Scientists say this is the oldest evidence that cats ‘knead dough’ - the name given to the behaviour of cats when they step on the surface. This is reported by Live Science.

Archaeologists believe that the potter left the jug to dry in the sun before firing it in a kiln. And since the surface was still wet, there was a cat's paw print, which decided to bask in the sun.

‘We believe that the cat was ‘kneading’ and not just lying on the jug, because its claws were extended and left deep marks on the clay surface,’ the researchers report.

The shape of the small print is a cat's front paw measuring 3 by 3 centimetres. The animal was probably lying next to the jug.

The remains of the pottery were found on the site of an ancient residential neighbourhood near the top of Mount Zion. Earlier, archaeologists had identified other pottery from the Abbasid period (750-1258 AD), which suggested the age of this fragment.

This means that the cat lived during the Abbasid Caliphate, a dynasty that ruled large areas of the Islamic Empire. During this period, Jerusalem was ruled by Muslims, but there were also Jews and Christians among its inhabitants.

The remains of cats have already been found on the territory of Israel - the animals had a special significance in Islamic culture during the Abbasid period. They are mentioned in early Islamic sources, and the Prophet Muhammad is said to have had a great love for cats.