Cat Tales: A History

The first book to explore from an archaeological perspective the incredible and improbable history of our relationship with cats, from fearsome foe to purring pet.

Feared, revered and respected, cats have left an indelible pawprint on the histories and civilizations of humankind. In Britain a third of all households have a cat, as of 2021, some 45 million American households owned one or more cats, making them one of the most popular pets in the world. Over the last two million years, cats and people have interacted in diverse and unexpected ways, but the predecessors of your furry friend were predators, not pets.

Here, for the first time, the path from deadly enemy to improbable roommate is set out through an archaeological lens by Professor of Anthropology Jerry Moore. Starting with the terrifying prehistorical scimitar-toothed cat of the Pliocene and the lion drawings of the Palaeolithic Chauvet caves, Moore journeys through our complicated history with these charismatic creatures. He travels along the Nile and across the Mediterranean, sailing on to South America, exploring pet cemeteries, cat mummies and exquisite statuary across continents and centuries.

However, our attempts to bring cats in from the cold have not always had happy endings, as Moore explores through such famous feline fanciers as Joe Exotic, Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn. Combining incredible archaeological finds with contemporary media, Cat Tales surveys ancient and modern interactions between humans and cats, wild and domestic, to ask a simple but profound question: who domesticated whom?

Review

'Cat Tales is an eloquent, yet learned, technically accurate excursion into the feline world that is destined to become a classic. Read parts of the book to your own cats, and they will ignore you, even if they meow at the beautiful, well-chosen pictures. But you’ll learn a great deal about your own beasts. I look at my cats with different eyes after reading Jerry’s entertaining excursion into cattery' - Brian Fagan, Distinguished Emeritus Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of The Intimate Bond: How Animals Shaped Human History

'Cats, large or small, wild or domesticated, have played a significant role in human history and have fulfilled multiple roles as: fearsome deities, emissaries between worlds, protectors against vermin, and beloved companions. Moore’s eminently readable book explores the wonderful world of felines, tracing their relationship with humans worldwide, from when we were their prey to the present, when, as any cat-owner knows, we are enslaved by them, catering to their every whim' - Salima Ikram, Distinguished University Professor, American University in Cairo

About the Author

Jerry Moore is an archaeologist, writer, editor and professor of anthropology at California State University Dominguez Hills. His books include The Prehistory of Home (2012, winner of the Society for American Archaeology Popular Book Award) among many others. He has written for Archaeology and Berfois magazines and his writings have been translated into French, Spanish, Han Chinese, Turkish and Croatian. Moore lives in Long Beach, California, where he provides food service to two cats.