Geek Talk- Ancient Kitties in Ancient Cities: A Tale of Domestication

Name: Geek Talk- Ancient Kitties in Ancient Cities: A Tale of Domestication
Start: 2025-02-20T19:00:00-05:00
Location: übergeek Brewing Co.

Schedule

Thu, 20 Feb, 2025 at 07:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

übergeek Brewing Co. | Riverhead, NY

TITLE: “Ancient Kitties in Ancient Cities”
SPEAKER: Sophie A. Miller, M.A., ABD.
TALK DESCRIPTION:
It has been long thought that with the establishment of sedentary human communities at the end of the Ice Age, came the domestication of the cat; thus, beginning one of the longest running relationships that humans have with a non-food animal. Despite this enduring relationship, cat domestication is still very poorly understood. Cats and humans have had very long and diverse relationships that reveal insights into many aspects of human society over time, including the development of sedentary
communities, urbanism, complexity, friendship, economies, and religion. This is largely due to the love-hate-tolerate nature of this relationship throughout history. From the
introduction of the ‘Pagan’ cult of Bastet into the Roman Empire, to the killing of cats as the familiars of witches in the Middle Ages, to the influx of cat memes and videos on
social media, cat and human lives have been deeply intertwined. In this talk, I will take you on an abbreviated journey through the many lives of the ancient cat. While the ‘why’
of cat domestication is largely unanswerable to us as archaeologists, by studying different ancient communities and examining well beyond the human lifespan, we can begin to assemble an interesting puzzle that illustrates the antiquity of cats beyond the traditionally conceived ancient Egyptian “origin”.
SELF BIO:
Sophie is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at the University of Oregon, working primarily in the African Archaeology Laboratory. Their work centres on understanding how humans and animals have interacted over time, with a special focus on animals
that lived alongside people, such as early domesticates. Sophie’s doctoral research specifically explores the long-running history of human-cat interactions prior to, and during, their domestication. Their research investigates when and how cats were
domesticated, exploring the archaeological evidence of ancient cats across Southwest Asia and North Africa after the Ice Age, and testing skeletal traits that can be used to distinguish the bones of domestic cats from their wild ancestors. Their interests include
human and animal anatomy and identification, bone health and disease, and animal domestication and husbandry. Sophie also has studied Ancient Egyptian archaeology, and participated in several years of research and field work throughout the Pacific
region, primarily in New Zealand, but also in the Southern Cook Islands, Hawai’i, and in the Caribbean. They have worked on field projects as well as laboratory analyses, including for the California Academy of Sciences, and multiple institutions in New
Zealand.
A collaboration between Fish Guy Photos and übergeek Brewing Company, “Geek Talks” is a lecture series with a night of great beer, delicious food, and a wealth of knowledge shared by local naturalists, educators, researchers, and other geeks.
Festivities start at 700 pm, lecture starts at 800 pm
400 Hallett Ave, Riverhead, NY 11901