New Research Reveals Cats Were Domesticated in Northern Africa 3,500–4,000 Years Ago

Recent research indicates that the domestication of cats occurred much later than previously believed, and it began in northern Africa rather than the Levant. Genetic analysis of cat bones from archaeological sites across Europe, North Africa, and Anatolia revealed that cats only began forming close bonds with humans around 3,500 to 4,000 years ago, rather than 10,000 years ago as earlier assumed. All modern domestic cats descend from the African wildcat, and this study suggests that the Egyptian society played a significant role in nurturing these feline-human relationships. Once domesticated, cats were spread globally, serving as ship cats and pest controllers, eventually reaching Europe around 2,000 years ago via Roman trade routes and later moving along the Silk Road into China. Interestingly, in China, humans had earlier interactions with wild leopard cats for about 3,500 years in a commensal relationship, though these cats never became fully domesticated. Today, domestic cats coexist worldwide, except in Antarctica, and have even been crossbred with leopard cats to create Bengal cats. This research provides new insight into the timing, location, and process of cat domestication, published in Science and Cell Genomics.