Hematite seal from Ur, Jemdet Nasr period, (from https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1924-0920-51)
While dogs have lived alongside humans for around 15,000 years, cats have done so since around 9,500 years.
Writer David Derbyshire cites a 2007 study that analysed DNA samples from 979 wild and domestic cats to reconstruct the feline family tree.
Researchers looked at markers in mitochondrial DNA, a type of genetic material inherited from mothers, that can determine when wild and domestic cat lineages were most closely related.
The study, led by Dr Andrew Kitchener, a zoologist at National Museums Scotland, concluded that domestic cats originated not in ancient Egypt, as previously thought, but in Mesopotamia, and much earlier than previously thought.
According to Kitchener, “the last common ancestor of wild and domestic cats lived more than 100,000 years ago” (Derbyshire).
These findings are supported by evidence from 1983, when archaeologist Alain le Brun discovered a cat skeleton in a tomb on the island of Cyprus, dated to 9500 BC.
This discovery was crucial as there was no indigenous cat population on the island and it is unlikely that the first settlers would have brought a wild cat there by boat.
Carved animal head, possibly a cat, on the Oseberg Viking ship – Viking Ship Museum, Oslo.
Evidence suggests that this bond began in ancient Mesopotamia, where cats were associated with humans to control rodents in crops.
A 2022 University of Cambridge study of the spread of domestic breeds across Europe confirms that the presence of cats alongside humans coincides with major migrations and military expansions.
However, unlike dogs, cats were never fully domesticated, but gradually ‘adapted’ to human life.
Genetic studies suggest that even after they were integrated into human society, cats remained largely unchanged for thousands of years.
True to their nature, cats took their time deciding whether or not to settle into human laps.
And while opinions on their perfection may vary, they are undeniably among the most popular pets today, with some 74 million living in homes in the United States alone.
Sources:
- World History Encyclopedia – Cats in the Ancient World – by Joshua J. Mark – 17 November 2012
- National Geographic – Cats Domesticated Themselves, New DNA Evidence Suggests – by Casey Smith – 9 November 2017
- National Geographic – History – The Cat Throughout History – by Sylvia Roig – 11 December 2012
- Wikipedia
