Purrrplexing: First clear fossil evidence of cat domestication found in China

[DavidBrown]

I'm not a cat person, but archaeologists found 5300 year old cat bones in association with humans. The condition and placement of the bones make it clear that they were living with humans, the first clear fossil evidence of cat domestication.

The mystery is why the bones are in China where the ancestor of the modern domesticated cat, the subspecies of Middle Eastern wildcat Felis silvestris lybica did not live.

Cat fossils found in China reveal early days of feline domestication - latimes.com

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Considering the fact that it is generally believed from genetic work and material found in Egypt that the initial domestication event occurred c.8000 BC, there is no real mystery here - there is almost 5,000 years between that date and the age of these bones.

 

[DavidBrown]

Considering the fact that it is generally believed from genetic work and material found in Egypt that the initial domestication event occurred c.8000 BC, there is no real mystery here - there is almost 5,000 years between that date and the age of these bones.

The mystery is what the origin of the cat is - is it from the same lineage as the modern domesticated cat or was it an independent domestication of something else?

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I'd imagine the wide gap in timespan is more than sufficient for cats domesticated in North Africa to have made their way to China by that point in time.

 

[DavidBrown]

I'd imagine the wide gap in timespan is more than sufficient for cats domesticated in North Africa to have made their way to China by that point in time.

If the article is accurate then the evidence of domestication from Egypt (paintings on tomb walls) is younger than the fossil evidence.

You are probably right, but they are doing DNA analysis apparently to confirm that the Chinese cats are the same as the modern cats.