Dried cat

{{Short description|Dried cats put inside walls}} [[File:Stag Inn, All Saints Street, Hastings - Mummified Cats (Crop 1).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Dried cats from the Stag Inn, All Saints Street, Hastings]]

In some European cultures, it was customary to place the dried or desiccated body of a cat inside the walls of a newly built home to ward off evil spirits or as a good luck charm. It was thought that the cats had a sixth sense and that putting a cat in the wall was a blood sacrifice so the animal could use psychic abilities to find and ward off unwanted spirits.<ref name="drycat">{{Cite web |url=http://www.apotropaios.co.uk/dried-cats.html |title=Dried Cats |website=Apotropaios |language=en |access-date=2018-05-10}}</ref> Although some accounts claim that the cats were walled in alive, examination of recovered specimens indicates post-mortem concealment in most cases.<ref name="Harte pp. 172–175"/>

==Origins==

In the British Isles,<ref>{{citation |last=Merrifield |first=Ralph |title=The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic |year=1987 |publisher=Batsford |isbn=978-0-7134-4870-2|title-link=The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic }}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Hoggard |first=Brian |contribution=The archaeology of counter-witchcraft and popular magic |title=Beyond the Witchtrials: Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment Europe |editor1-last=Davies |editor1-first=Owen |editor2-last=De Blécourt |editor2-first=William |year=2004 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-6660-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/beyondwitchtrial00unse }}</ref> as well as in Northern Europe and North America,<ref>{{citation |last=Manning |first=M. Chris |title=Homemade Magic: Concealed Deposits in Architectural Contexts in the Eastern United States |year=2012| url = http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/123456789/197006}}</ref> the dried or mummified bodies of cats are frequently found concealed within structures and are believed to have been placed there to bring good luck or to protect the building and its occupants from harm.<ref name="Savill 2009">{{cite news | last=Savill | first=Richard | title=400-year-old mummified cat found in walls of cottage | website=Telegraph.co.uk | date=2009-04-22 | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5200089/400-year-old-mummified-cat-found-in-walls-of-cottage.html | access-date=2019-05-21}}</ref> The North American instances are strongly associated with European households and are most often found in buildings where shoes and witch bottles are also concealed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Manning |first1=Mary C. |title=The Material Culture of Ritual Concealments in the United States |journal=Historical Archaeology |date=2014 |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=52–83 |jstor=43491309 |doi=10.1007/BF03376937 |s2cid=164360396 }}</ref> In some cases, the animals are found deliberately posed as if in the midst of attack.<ref>{{citation |last=Howard |first=Margaret M. |year=1951 |title=252. Dried Cats |journal=Man |volume=51 |pages=149–151 |publisher=Wiley, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |doi=10.2307/2794702|jstor=2794702 }}</ref> In other cases, they are accompanied by dried rats, mice, or birds.<ref name="Harte pp. 172–175">{{cite journal | last=Harte | first=Jeremy | title=Ronald Hutton, Physical Evidence for Ritual Acts, Sorcery and Witchcraft in Christian Britain: A Feeling for Magic | journal=Time and Mind | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=9 | issue=2 | date=2016-04-02 | issn=1751-696X | doi=10.1080/1751696x.2016.1171501 | pages=172–175| s2cid=163536983 }}</ref>

Historian Ian Evans stated in an interview that this was part of a secret folk magic practice that may have come from the Romans to the British and then to Australia as well.<ref name="Evans 2012">{{cite web | last=McMahon | first=Jeanette | title=Warding off evil with shoes and dead cats | website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=2012-04-02 | url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/04/02/3469167.htm | access-date=2019-05-21}}</ref> Evans has also launched the Tasmanian Magic Project in an effort to understand the history of this practice in Australia.<ref name="Sutton 2016">{{cite web | last=Sutton | first=Candace | title=The secret objects hidden in your walls to trap evil spirits | website=NewsComAu | date=2016-10-02 | url=https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/mummified-cats-witch-marks-and-childrens-boots-in-your-walls-the-secret-objects-and-hidden-magic-symbols-used-to-trap-evil-spirits/news-story/81ab3a093472b561ffcfca2224a0ee3d | access-date=2019-05-21}}</ref>

Sometimes when the animals are discovered, as in the case of a mummified cat and kittens, it might be assumed that the animal was just accidentally there and got stuck. However, there are times when the animals are found in locations that it would have been impossible for them to have gotten into accidentally such as being encased in a brick cavity. <ref name="drycat"/>

==Mummification of cats in ancient Egypt== {{Main|Cats in ancient Egypt}}

Cats in ancient Egypt were represented in social and religious practices of Ancient Egypt for more than 3000 years. Several ancient Egyptian deities were depicted and sculptured with cat-like heads such as Mafdet, Bastet and Sekhmet, representing justice, fertility and power.<ref name=Malek1997>{{cite book |title=The Cat in Ancient Egypt |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |last=Malek |first=J. |date=1997 |edition=Revised |location=Pennsylvania |isbn=9780812216325}}</ref> The deity Mut was also depicted as a cat and in the company of a cat.<ref name=Velde1982>{{cite book |last=Te Velde |first=H. |chapter=The cat as sacred animal of the goddess Mut |title=Studies in Egyptian Religion dedicated to Professor Jan Zandee |publisher=Brill |date=1982 |location=Leiden |pages=127−137 |isbn=978-90-04-37862-9 |editor1-last=Van Voss |editor1-first=H. |editor2-last=Hoens |editor2-first=D. J. |editor3-last=Van de Plas |editor3-first=A. |editor4-last=Mussies |editor4-first=G. |editor5-last=Te Velde |editor5-first=H. |chapter-url= http://www.jacobusvandijk.nl/docs/Fs_Zandee.pdf}} </ref>

Cats were praised for killing venomous snakes and protecting the pharaoh since at least the First Dynasty of Egypt. Skeletal remains of cats were found among funerary goods dating to the 12th Dynasty. The protective function of cats is indicated in the ''Book of the Dead'', where a cat represents Ra and the benefits of the sun for life on Earth. Cat-shaped decorations used during the New Kingdom of Egypt indicate that the cat cult became more popular in daily life. Cats were depicted in association with the name of Bastet. <ref name=Langton> {{cite book |title=The cat in ancient Egypt, illustrated from the collection of cat and other Egyptian figures formed |publisher=Cambridge University Press |last1=Langton |first1=N. |last2=Langton |first2=M. B. |date=1940 |location=Cambridge}} </ref>

Cat cemeteries at the archaeological sites Speos Artemidos, Bubastis and Saqqara were used for several centuries. They contained vast numbers of cat mummies and cat statues that are exhibited in museum collections worldwide.<ref name=Zivie2005>{{cite book |last1=Zivie |first1=A. |last2=Lichtenberg |first2=R. |date=2005 |title=Divine Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt |publisher=American University in Cairo Press |location=Cairo |isbn=9789774248580 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/divinecreaturesa00ikra/page/106 106−119] |editor=Ikram, S. |chapter=The Cats of the Goddess Bastet |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zz5oNwmdaTcC&pg=PA106 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/divinecreaturesa00ikra/page/106 }}</ref> Among the mummified animals excavated in Gizeh, the African wildcat (''Felis lybica'') is the most common cat followed by the jungle cat (''Felis chaus'').<ref name=Morrison-Scott1952>{{cite journal |title=The mummified cats of ancient Egypt |last=Morrison-Scott |first=T. C. S. |journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London |date=1952 |volume=121 |issue=4 |pages=861–867 |url= https://www.gwern.net/docs/catnip/1952-morrisonscott.pdf|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1952.tb00788.x }}</ref> In view of the huge number of cat mummies found in Egypt, the cat cult was certainly important for the country's economy, as it required breeding of cats and a trading network for the supply of food, oils and resins for embalming them.<ref name=Ikram2015>{{cite book |title=Apprivoiser le sauvage / Taming the Wild |publisher=Cahiers de l’Égypte Nilotique et Méditerranéenne 11 |last=Ikram |first=S. |date=2015 |location=Montpellier |pages=211–228 |chapter=Speculations on the role of animal cults in the economy of Ancient Egypt |editor1-last=Massiera |editor1-first=M. |editor2-last=Mathieu |editor2-first=B. |editor3-last=Rouffet |editor3-first=F. |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/22242570/2015_Speculations_on_the_Role_of_Animal_Cults_in_the_Economy_of_Ancient_Egypt_In_M_Massiera_B_Mathieu_and_Fr_Rouffet_eds_Apprivoiser_le_Sauvage_Taming_the_Wild_CENiM_11_Montpellier_University_Paul_Val%C3%A9ry_Montpellier_211_228 }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading==

*Evans, Ian J. (2017). [https://www.academia.edu/34894136/Tasmanian_Magic_Project_Report_of_the_First_Field_Season Tasmanian Magic Project: Report of the First Field Season]

==External links==

* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5200089/400-year-old-mummified-cat-found-in-walls-of-cottage.html 400-year-old mummified cat found in walls of cottage] * [http://www.strangehistory.net/2011/08/12/dried-cats/ Dried Cats]

Category:Magic items Category:Superstitions of Great Britain Category:Animal products Category:Lucky symbols Category:Objects believed to protect from evil Category:Cats Category:Mummies