6 ARCHAEOLOGY • September/October 2019
S
ome say that the world is divided into dog people and cat people. Having grown
up with cats, I belong to the latter category. I recently learned that cats were
domesticated relatively late in human history, probably in the ancient Near East.
They were likely attracted to the food remains left by the area’s early farmers and to
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This goes a long way toward explaining why dogs can be easily trained, whereas cats are
generally so independent.
My interest in the history of cats was sparked by
a beautiful tabby kitten that my husband Jim named
Zoe, after the mosaic of the zodiac cycle my team
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century synagogue at Huqoq in northern Israel’s
Galilee region. Like the rest of the country, the kibĥ
butz where we stay is overrun with feral cats. My
husband fell in love with Zoe on account of her enĥ
dearing habit of arching her back to be petted. We
later realized this is something she does when she is
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much of her time in the lab playing with pieces of colored ancient plaster that had been
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Zoe’s personality, I knew we would end up taking her home.
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wildered that we wanted to take a cat back to the United States, asking, “Don’t you
have enough cats there?” Now two years old, Zoe has become quite domesticated, and
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she is, at least in part, a breed known as the Egyptian Mau. The ancient Egyptian word
for cat actually sounds similar to “meow,” and I like to imagine that Zoe’s ancestors
were worshipped as gods.FROM THE PRESIDENT
MY CAT’S MEOW
Jodi Magness
President, Archaeological Institute of AmericaArchaeological
Institute of AmericaOFFICERS
President
Jodi Magness
First Vice President
Laetitia La Follette
Vice President for Outreach and Education
Ethel Scully
Vice President for Research and Academic Affairs
Thomas Tartaron
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Elizabeth S. Greene
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Connie Rodriguez
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David Seigle
Chief Operating Officer
Kevin Quinlan
GOVERNING BOARD
Elie Abemayor
David Adam
Deborah Arnold
Jeanne Bailey
David Boochever
Thomas Carpenter
Jane Carter, ex officio
Arthur Cassanos
Larry Cripe
Joshua Gates
Elizabeth M. Greene
Julie Herzig Desnick
James Jansson
Lisa Kealhofer
Morag Kersel
Mark Lawall
Thomas Levy
Gary Linn
Jarrett A. Lobell, ex officio
Kathleen Lynch
Tina Mayland
H. Bruce McEver
Barbara Meyer
Sarah Parcak
A. Phokion Potamianos
Kevin Quinlan, ex officio
Laura Rich
Kim Shelton
Thomas Sienkewic
Monica L. Smith
Maria Vecchiotti
Michael Wiseman
John Yarmick
Past President
Andrew Moore
Trustees Emeriti
Brian Heidtke
Norma Kershaw
Charles S. La Follette
Legal Counsel
Mitchell Eitel, Esq.
Sullivan & Cromwell, LLPArchaeological Institute of America
44 Beacon Street • Boston, MA 02108
archaeological.orgZoe