Oldest cat pawprint ever: two millennia

July 14, 2016 • 2:30 pm

UPDATE: I thought this looked familiar; Matthew published the same story a year ago. Oh well, maybe people have forgotten, or we have new readers.

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From the BBC and Mental Floss via reader Don B. we have the new discovery of a cat’s pawprints on a Roman roof tile in Gloucester. Here’s the photo:

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The BBC reports:

It was dug up in Berkeley Street in 1969 but the footprint has only just been discovered.

The print was found by an archaeologist at Gloucester City Museum who was examining thousands of fragments of Roman roof tile.

The cat is thought to have snuck across the wet tiles which were drying in the sun in about AD100.

The tile, a type called tegula, was used on the roof of a building in what became the Berkeley Street area of modern Gloucester, a spokesman said.

Councillor Lise Noakes, from Gloucester City Council, said it was a “fascinating discovery”.

“Dog paw prints, people’s boot prints and even a piglet’s trotter print have all been found on tiles from Roman Gloucester, but cat prints are very rare,” she said.

17 thoughts on “Oldest cat pawprint ever: two millennia”

  1. Not so sure about too smart. Too persnickety though? That definitely fits many cats I’ve known. Fits our current furry princess to a proverbial ‘T.’ Just the thought of a flea-bitten human touching her can instigate a 20 minute grooming session. After which I make a point of petting and kissing her.

  3. I have a 100 year old brick with cat paws in it. Would have attached a pic but I can’t find it! Ha!

  6. I saw a similar tile in the Museum of London not long ago. I believe it was from the Roman era.
    I do not know how to post a jpg image in a comment. Is that possible?

      1. I was hoping I could just upload it here somehow. It looks like I have to upload it elsewhere and place the link here. Here Flickr – Flickr – Flickr…

  7. Gloucester City Museum […] wet tiles which were drying in the sun

    Sun? Gloucester?

    in about AD100.

    OIC, they’d only been here for less than 40 years ; the optimism hadn’t been beaten out of their weather expectations yet.

  8. Of course! Cats are too smart to go walking across wet clay, for crying out loud.

    Haha and the only reasonable explanation of course is that the cat was chasing something worth chasing in wet clay.

    1. Since there were no other prints in the clay, one can only assume a very low flying bird of course.

  9. When we had concrete laid for our conservatory our cat very neatly walked around the whole perimeter leaving footprints that were still visible long after the cat was no more.

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