Whether it’s Siamese, Persian or domestic shorthair cats, hundreds of millions of cats live with people around the world, but despite Despite their popularity, the history of cat domestication is not easy for scientists to decipher. A new genome study provides some insight into that question by determining the time of a key turning point in cat domestication – the introduction of domestic cats to Europe from North Africa. Domestic cats entered Europe about 2,000 years ago in the early Roman Empire, probably thanks to maritime trade, scientists have discovered. Some of these furry pioneers may have been brought by sailors to catch mice on ships sailing the Mediterranean, transporting them from the fertile fields of Egypt to the ports that served Rome and other cities in the vast Roman Empire.
The findings contradict the long-held idea that domestication occurred in prehistoric times, perhaps 6,000 to 7,000 years ago, when farmers from the ancient Near East first moved to Europe, bringing cats with them.
“Through our research, we have shown that the earliest genomes of domestic cats in Europe are from the Roman imperial period onward,” starting from the first century AD, said paleogeneticist Claudio Ottoni of Tor Vergata University in Rome, lead author of the study published Thursday in the journal Science.
The study used genetic data from the remains of macaques from 97 archaeological sites across Europe and the Middle East, as well as from modern macaques. The researchers analyzed 225 bones of cats – domestic and wild – ranging from approximately 10,000 years ago to the 19th century AD and generated 70 ancient cat genomes.
Scientists have discovered that the remains of cats from prehistoric sites in Europe belong to wild cats, not early domestic cats.
The first animals domesticated by humans were dogs, the descendants of an ancient wolf population separated from modern wolves. The domestic cat, a descendant of the African wild cat, came later.
“The introduction of domestic macaques to Europe is important because it marks a significant moment in their long-term relationship with humans. Macaques are not just another species arriving on a new continent. They are animals that have deeply integrated into human societies, economies, and even belief systems,” said the paleogenetian. and co-author of the study from Tor Vergata University in Rome, Marco De Martino.
Genome data identified two introductions of cats to Europe from North Africa. About 2,200 years ago, humans brought wild cats from northwestern Africa to the island of Sardinia, and today’s wild cat population is descended from these migrants.
But these were not domestic cats. A separate spread from North Africa approximately two centuries later formed the genetic basis of the modern domestic cat in Europe.
The findings of the study suggest that there was no single central region of cat domestication, the greater that several regions and cultures in North Africa played a role, according to zooarchaeologist and study co-author Bei De Cupera of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
“The timing of the genetic waves of introduction from North Africa coincides with periods when trade around the Mediterranean was greatly intensified. The cats probably traveled as effective mouse hunters on cargo ships, but possibly as prized animals with religious and symbolic significance,” said De Cupere.
Cats, for example, were important in ancient Egypt, whose pantheon included cat deities and whose royal family kept cats as pets, sometimes mummifying them for burial in lavish coffins.
The ancient Roman army, with outposts spread across Europe, and its entourage played a key role in the spread of domestic cats across the continent, as evidenced by the small remains discovered at the sites of Roman military camps.
The earliest domestic cat in Europe identified in the study – genetically similar to today’s domestic cats – dates from the period between 50 BC and 80 AD from the Austrian city of Mautern, the site of a Roman fort along the Danube River.
However, the study does not reveal the time and location of the initial domestication of cats.
“Cat domestication is complicated,” Ottoni said. “What we can now know is the time of the introduction of domestic cats into Europe from North Africa. We can’t really say much about what happened before and where.”