Carol M. Highsmith, photographer. Please refresh the page and try again. By studying ancient cat DNA from all over the world, the researchers found that cat domestication began in the Fertile Crescent (in the Neolithic period) and accelerated … Brown concluded that younger and lighter colored cats generally find homes more quickly than older and darker colored cats (Brown and Morgan 2014). By studying ancient cat DNA from all over the world, the researchers found that cat domestication began in the Fertile Crescent (in the Neolithic period) and accelerated later in ancient Egypt (in the Classical period) (Ottoni and others 2017). Though cats were considered to be the most divine. Bastet was a goddess who could become a cat. and 1950 B.C… Scientists also judged the cats' ages by studying the animals' teeth and the growth plates at the ends of their bones. The new cat skeletons show no signs of injury, healed or not. Popcorn the cat, one of a dozen or so feline residents at Gammons Gulch, a recreated Old West town and the site of dozens of movies, commerical shoots and the like in the remote desert north of Benson in Cochise County, Arizona. [See Images of the Ancient Egyptian Cats]. Meanwhile, cat domestication in China may date back 5,300 years, according to research published in December 2013. "It is likely that its long bones were broken during capture and that the animal was then held in captivity and taken care of," Van Neer said. According to a recent study by Claudio Ottoni, cat domestication took place in two strains, but all domestic cats have a common ancestor: the North African / Southwest Asian wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica (Ottoni and others 2017). This project was headed by Dr. Andrew Kitchener, a Zoologist at the National Museums of Scotland, who writes, "This shows that the origin of domestic cats was not Ancient Egypt - which is the prevailing view - but Mesopotamia and that it occurred much earlier than was thought. According to Egyptian mythology, gods and goddesses had the power to transform themselves into different animals. In Egpyt, wild cats typically produce one litter per year, contingent on seasonal food availability, Van Neer and his colleagues report. "The last word on cat domestication (when and where) is not yet said," Wim Van Neer, a bioarchaeologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and Catholic University, Leuven, wrote in an email to Live Science. Original article on Live Science. and 3800 B.C., which would be 2,000 years before the earliest known evidence of cat domestication in Egypt, archaeologists report in the May issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science. Cats Domesticated Themselves, Ancient DNA Shows, Cat identification: colors and coat patterns, Long before they conquered the Internet, cats took over the world, The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world, The relationship between coat color and aggressive behaviors in the domestic cat. By analyzing the ancient DNA of cat remains found in port cities, the scientists concluded that cats were brought along on ships, most likely to help protect food storages on board by killing rodents (Ottoni and others 2017). Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, “There are many subspecies of wildcat, and all these cats can actually interbreed, so it’s rather hard to figure out the story now,” explains Dr. Leslie Lyons, professor and head of the Feline Genetics Laboratory at the U… Archaeologists once believed that cats were domesticated in the time of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt, approximately 4,000 years ago, between 2310 B.C. In the city of Per-Bast, a beautiful temple was built, and people came from all over to experience its splendor. The new find includes two adult cats and four kittens from at least two litters. Here, Kitty, Kitty: 10 Facts for Cat-Lovers, 'Fireball' meteorite that crashed in Michigan holds extraterrestrial organic compounds, Rare, 2-headed snake discovered by Florida house cat. A contented cat at Yoder’s Amish Home … near Walnut Creek in central Ohio. Art from ancient Egypt shows statues and paintings of every type of feline. Animals were revered for different reasons. Another question is whether coat color impacts the length of time a cat will stay in a shelter. Nor did they likely come from the adult female buried with them, as she was not old enough to have birthed 4- to 5-month-old kittens. The last common ancestor of wildcats and domesticated cats lived more than 100,000 years ago” (Derbyshire). Van Neer and his colleagues, including excavation director Renée Friedman, discovered the cat skeletons by the eastern wall of the cemetery in 2008. Cats were encouraged to settle in villages to control the mice. © Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. The skeletons of six cats, including four kittens, found in an Egyptian cemetery may push back the date of cat domestication in Egypt by nearly 2,000 years. This allowed cats to spread across the world. Researchers will need continued excavations and DNA evidence to pin down the origins of domesticated cats, Van Neer said. Cats in ancient Egypt were represented in social and religious practices of ancient Egypt for more than 3,000 years. After about 330 B.C., Egyptians even bred felines near temples to be sacrificed as offerings and mummified. Who lies in the tomb of the 'Six-Headed Chief'? Had the six cats in the cemetery been wild, the older generation should have been about 16 or 17 months old, in order to produce kittens 4 to 5 months old. Several strands of data indicate that cats were present in Egypt as early as … When the cats died, they were mummified. To honor these treasured pets, wealthy families dressed them in jewels and fed them treats fit for royalty. For example, V.J. The deity Mut was also depicted as a cat and in the company of a cat. The evidence from Ottoni’s study also gives an explanation for the way cats spread around the world. Egyptians believed cats were magical creatures, capable of bringing good luck to the people who housed them. The size of the bones suggests the cats belong to the species Felis silvestris, a small wildcat found in Africa, Europe and Central Asia. Stelow, Elizabeth A., Melissa J. Bain, and Philip H. Kass. The house cat was domesticated during the Middle Kingdom and was one of the most common house hold pets, next to dogs. Instead, the adult cats were about a year old at death, suggesting that the natural reproductive cycle of the cats was disrupted, perhaps because humans were keeping and feeding the animals year round. All rights reserved. While there are a number of wildcat subspecies—European and Scottish wildcats, for example—today’s domestic cat is thought to have descended from the North African wildcat, also called the Near Eastern wildcat. "In the future," Van Neer said, "we want to investigate whether there was only one domestication center (in the Levant), or whether Egypt should also be considered as a second, later, domestication center.". © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- The researchers analyzed the size and shape of the cat jaws, comparing them to those of wild and domestic cats in Europe. The kittens were all between 4 and 5 months old at death, but one pair was slightly older than the other, the tooth data revealed. Archaeologists once believed that cats were domesticated in the time of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt, approximately 4,000 years ago, between 2310 B.C. 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC. There was a problem. Because of the healing, researchers suspect humans kept the cat for at least 4 to 6 weeks before its death. Ottoni found that the recessive allele found in most tabby cats today that causes a blotched pattern did not appear in their study until the medieval period. You will receive a verification email shortly.

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