Cat Tales: A History

by Jerry D. Moore

Feared, revered and respected, cats have left an indelible pawprint on the histories and civilizations of humankind. In Britain a third of all households have a cat, as of 2021, some 45 million American households owned one or more cats, making them one of the most popular pets in the world. Over the last two million years, cats and people have interacted in diverse and unexpected ways, but the predecessors of your furry friend were predators, not pets.

Here, for the first time, the path from deadly enemy to improbable roommate is set out through an archaeological lens by Professor of Anthropology Jerry Moore. Starting with the terrifying prehistorical scimitar-toothed cat of the Pliocene and the lion drawings of the Palaeolithic Chauvet caves, Moore journeys through our complicated history with these charismatic creatures. He travels along the Nile and across the Mediterranean, sailing on to South America, exploring pet cemeteries, cat mummies and exquisite statuary across continents and centuries.

However, our attempts to bring cats in from the cold have not always had happy endings, as Moore explores through such famous feline fanciers as Joe Exotic, Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn. Combining incredible archaeological finds with contemporary media, Cat Tales surveys ancient and modern interactions between humans and cats, wild and domestic, to ask a simple but profound who domesticated whom?

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Animals, Cats

272 pages, Hardcover

Published September 23, 2025

About the author

Jerry D. Moore is an anthropological archaeologist and professor of anthropology at California State University Dominguez Hills, California. His research interests focus on cultural landscapes, the archaeology of architecture, and human adaptations on the north coast of Peru and northern Baja California.

He is the author of Architecture and Power in the Prehispanic Andes: The Archaeology of Public Buildings (1996), Cultural Landscapes in the Prehispanic Andes: Archaeologies of Place (2005), Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists (2012), the 2014 SAA Book Award winner A Prehistory of Home, thirty-five peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and sixty-seven professional papers.

Reviews

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

That humans have been fascinated by cats for untold thousands of years goes without saying. Imagine venerating an animal capable of killing and eating you as a god. Well, we did, and do. As I read this look at human-feline interactions over the millennia, my constant cat companion, Samhain, contentedly slept on my lap. And unlike the earliest cats who domesticated themselves in Egypt and the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea while finding easy hordes of tasty mice to ea thousands of years ago, her primary function is to keep my lap warm. She is the most domesticated cat I've ever been associated with, like Simon's Cat made flesh. Her predecessor, Misty who died at age 22 after living with me 18 years, was Xena, Warrior Prince. Personality-wise two cats could not be more different. And I love them both.

By the way, both the girls are rescue cats. They were so named when they moved in. They answered to those names, so no need to change.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gonna be honest, DNF for me. Maybe I'll pick it up later on but my brain can not handle a science heavy book right now.
I was expecting something like some historical references of the human-cat relationship. Not necessarily a deep dive into the paleontology and archeology study of the evolution of felines and humans.
I'm sure it's very well researched and well written but my brain can't get into it right now.

[Trixi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting archaeological/historical look at cats.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I certainly learned a lot about human history and cats! I will never look at my little kitty the same.