Aught, the Shillourokambos Cat

3D reconstruction of the Early Aceramic Neolithic grave of Shillourokambos.* J.-D. Vigne et al., “Early Taming of the Cat in Cyprus,” Science, 304 (April 9, 2004)

“Middle English, from Old English āwiht, from ā ever + wiht creature, thing.”

—Merriam Webster, s.v.

In 2004, French archaeologists,

At a site in Cyprus called Shillourokambos, 

Found the grave, some nine and a half thousand years old,

Of a man of substance, buried with evidence

To demonstrate his worth, and at his feet a cat,

Interred there with equal care. Let's call the man Neo

(for this was the Neolithic) and the cat, well,

We’ll clearly never know, so let's just call her Aught.

Neo was a warrior, no doubt (you had to be),

And she (Why am I so sure that Aught was a she?)

A mouser and a friend—the first companion cat

Named (now)—who willy-nilly followed him in death.

In the Aceramic Neolithic, humans,

Muggs, my cat, informs me, were still just newly tamed.

*https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/neolithic-cat-burial-in-cyprus-thte-oldest-known-evidence-of-cat-taming

Friday, October 24, 2025