Cat Fossils Found in China Reveal Early Days of Feline Domestication

choi

Monte Morin, Cat Fossils Found in China Reveal Early Days of Feline Domestication; Discovery of the 5,300-year-old bones fills an enormous gap in experts' understanding of cat domestication, but the location is a surprise. Los Angeles Times, Dec 17, 2013.
www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-cats-domesticated-20131217,0,4070198.story

Note:
(a) Hu YW et al, Earliest Evidence for Commensal Processes of Cat Domestication. Proc Nat Aced Sci, _: _ (Published online before print Dec 16, 2013).
www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/ ... d-b234-2335eea50979

, whose full text is available to subscribers only (at least before publication in print).

(b) "Today, every domestic cat in the world — whether it's howling in a back alley, starring in a YouTube video or climbing into an empty box in your living room — is descended from a single subspecies of Middle Eastern wildcat known as Felis silvestris lybica."
(i) Driscoll CA et al, The Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication. Science, 317: 519 (2007).
www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5837/519.abstract
(ii) Nell Greenfieldboyce, Cats First Tamed in the Middle East. NPR, June 28, 2013
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=115150859
(interview with lead investigator Carlos A Driscoll; photo caption: "Scientists say that F. silvestris lybica wildcats from the Middle East look much like this tabby house cat")

There is no need to read the rest of the NPR report.

(c) Quanhucun 陕西省渭南市华县柳枝镇 泉护村 ("渭水之旁、华山脚下")
(d) "Until now, the next-oldest record of cats living with people came from ancient Egypt, where 4,000-year-old tomb paintings and writings described cats being kept as pets in the homes of the wealthy. Unlike the Egyptian cats, which were often depicted sitting under chairs, the cats of Quanhucun were hardly house cats. They were probably more akin to the cats that populate today's parking garages: creatures wary of people but also reliant on them for an occasional handout or carelessly dropped garbage.

cats in ancient Egypt
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_in_ancient_Egypt
(photos)