Calling a house cat domesticated could be seen as a stretch. With their famously aloof demeanor and unpredictable moods, cats have never quite surrendered their wild streak. Our feline friends are notoriously temperamental and may tolerate us, at best, but they are nonetheless important figures in the homes of many families around the world. Cats are equally mysterious and charming in their own right.
New research suggests that cats might have become domesticated in ancient Egypt because of their connections to ritual sacrifice. Two studies provide insight into the practice. The sacrifice of mummified cats to Egyptian gods was so common that the ancient Egyptians started breeding them to keep up with the demand, leading to cats’ eventual domestication. The theory is that the cats were bred in groups, which eventually yielded fewer feral kittens.
This hypothesis competes with a predominant theory, which suggests that cats domesticated themselves during the Neolithic period in Europe. As human communities developed agricultural practices and began to farm, this led to a surplus of rodents that fed on crops. It is likely, then, that overwhelmed farmers encouraged an increased feline presence near their settlements as an early form of pest control.
In the early 2000s, a 9,500-year-old grave found in Cyprus containing human and cat remains appeared to have supported this Neolithic self-domestication theory. However, the two studies still awaiting peer review may disprove this hypothesis, thanks to research on cat morphology and genetic analysis.
One study published by Sean Doherty and his team at the University of Exeter compared the bones of European wildcats, domestic cats, and African wildcats. They found no significant change in similarity between the domestic cat and the European or African wildcats. These findings undermine the European Neolithic domestication theory, but leave us with more questions than before.
The other study may begin to answer these questions by studying the genetic evolution of the domestic cat, Felis catus. Marco De Martino, a paleogeneticist at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, researched the genetic data of 70 cat genomes from archaeological sites in North Africa, Bulgaria, Italy, and Anatolia. The findings pinpoint North Africa as the likely point of origin for the domestic cat species, “several millennia later” than the Neolithic period.
This research coincides with the evolution of the cult of the Egyptian goddess Bastet. Bastet “first appeared in the third millennium BCE, depicted with a lion’s head,” but this representation was gradually replaced with an African wildcat head. This development coincided with the increase in mummified cat sacrifices, which were offered to the goddess in rituals.
While some still argue that cats were domesticated much earlier than the proposed ancient Egyptian theory, a dearth of information and archaeological data surrounding the issue means it may remain a mystery. Until more definitive evidence comes to light, the story of how cats came to curl up at our feet remains as elusive as the animals themselves: a blend of myth, science, and mystery still waiting to be discovered.
New research published may give us clearer insight into the origins of the modern-day domestic cat.
Cats likely became domesticated due to their connections with ritual sacrifice in ancient Egypt.
It is believed that cats were often mummified and offered as sacrifices to the Egyptian goddess Bastet, who was often depicted with a North African wildcat head.
These findings contradict a popular theory that cats became self-domesticated in Europe during the Neolithic period, but ultimately leave us with more questions than answers.
Sources: Redefining the timing and circumstances of cat domestication, their dispersal trajectories, and the extirpation of European wildcats; The dispersal of domestic cats from Northern Africa and their introduction to Europe over the last two millennia
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