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Blessi and his honorary Viking
cat Mittens |
Did you know that there were Viking cats? As per a study reported in
Scientific America, researchers
examined the mtDNA of 200 cats dating
from 15,000 to 300 years ago.
Cats were associated with humans
from the beginning of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent, probably
helping to control the rat and mice populations. One wave of cats came
out of this area; the other, from Egypt. "Thousands of years later,
cats descended from those in Egypt spread rapidly around Eurasia and
Africa. A mitochondrial lineage common in Egyptian cat mummies from the
end of the fourth century B.C. to the fourth century A.D. was also
carried by cats in Bulgaria, Turkey and sub-Saharan Africa from around
the same time. Sea-faring people probably kept cats to keep rodents in
check, says Geigl, whose team also found cat remains with this maternal
DNA lineage at a Viking site dating to between the eighth and eleventh
century A.D. in northern Germany."
As Pontus Skoglund, a geneticist at the Harvard Medical School, states, “I didn’t even know there were Viking cats.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cats-conquered-the-world-and-a-few-viking-ships/
Raymond Quiet is an artist specializing in making historically accurate reproductions Norse, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, etc. jewelry and armor pieces. His work is exquisite. I own several pieces--turtle brooches, needle case. Plus I have Rus buckles to make another bridle. Kathy and I met him at Viking Days in Ballard. So if you are interested, here is the link.