Did Celts keep Cats?


Did Celts keep Cats?

Did the Celts already keep cats to hunt mice? Or, as one would have to say it probably more aptly: Did Cats already have Celts as their subjects?

From different representations on metal vessels of the Celts we know they knew oxen, deer, dogs, lions (!), various birds - but no cats.
Cats were worshipped as deities in Egypt in the Iron Age (the cat goddess Bastet) and when the cat of the house died in Egypt, its owners shaved off their eyebrows (what luck that cats have nine lives ...).
The old Greeks already kept cats as domestic animals, representations are found on Greek vases from the 5th century B.C. Now one could assume that the Celts, who drove active trade with the Greeks, got to know and appreciate the cat that way, too. Plagues of mice certainly also happened in the pantries of the Celts and a few imported cats would have been a good business.
But as far as I know, the cats found their way over the Alps to the north only in the 3rd-5th century AD. The Celts were freedom-loving people and did not like to be subjugated - not even by the princess-like nature of the velvet paws.  :-)
Until then, they had to find other methods to prevent mice from eating away their provisions. Perhaps dogs also hunted mice in those days (foxes still do). They certainly would not spurn the meat. I know a cat-dog co-housing, where the cat brings the captured mice to the dog for consumption.
Otherwise, structural measures helped:
Inside the house, (smoked) meat and small sacks of grain were still hung from the ceiling on hooks many centuries later. Storage huts outside were built on stilts, which at least made it more difficult for the mice.
However, the most fascinating method of vermin-free preservation, in my opinion, were the Celtic grain pits. Making them is simple: dig a large pit and pour in lots of grain. Seal it tightly with clay on top.
At first you might shake your head at this. Anyone who has ever had voles in the garden can already see them holding a feast. But what happens in the airtight pit is this: The grain lying close to the soil begins to germinate in the moisture of the soil. To do this, it needs oxygen, which the seedlings draw from the pit. The process comes to a halt as soon as the grain in the center is virtually vacuumed. At this point, the seedlings have formed a tangled layer of thin shoots and rootlets that seals off the ungerminated grain from the soil. Plant seedlings always contain special substances that keep predators away - their chances of growing into a large plant would otherwise be slim. And it is precisely these substances that now prevent mice and other creatures from ravaging the grain reserves ...
Working WITH nature and its mechanisms was just as wise then as it is today. And probably done on an everyday basis.
Now it would be exciting to find out whether this form of grain storage came to an end when the cat found a home with the Celts ...

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