I came across this fascinating article and wanted to share here. Apparently, it could be that cats have been domesticated not once but twice! In two separate historic processes!
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/were-cats-domesticated-more-once
Here's the TL;DR (too long - didn't read) version for you -
Researchers recently found the remains of eight skeletons of cats in a small village in China. The bones were dated as being 5300 years old, which is about 5000 later than when cats are believed to have been domesticated in Egypt. The location of the bones shows that these cats lived with the humans, within the village. One of the skeletons was found whole, suggesting someone bothered to bury the animal and likely had some sort of a relationship with it.
The occupants of that village were farmers. The cats' bones contained certain minerals which indicate that the cats fed on small rodents, who in their turn, fed on grain. So, what we basically have is proof that these cats -
1. Lived alongside people.
2. Hunted the rodents that fed on the crops which means the people.
It's fair to assume that there was some sort of domestic relationship going on there (even if the cats weren't actually kept as pets).
At first, researchers thought these cats may have been domesticated cats brought from the Middle East via trade routes. Further analysis shows that they come from an entirely different species of local wild cats. Which means, the Chinese farmers domesticated a local species of cats, in a process that was separate from that which happened in Egypt!
On a grander scale, this means that as humanity formed agricultural societies, we simply needed to have cats around us! Even if you're gluten-sensitive, you have to admit this puts grain and bread in a new perspective
. After all, it brought cats into our lives!
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/were-cats-domesticated-more-once
Here's the TL;DR (too long - didn't read) version for you -
Researchers recently found the remains of eight skeletons of cats in a small village in China. The bones were dated as being 5300 years old, which is about 5000 later than when cats are believed to have been domesticated in Egypt. The location of the bones shows that these cats lived with the humans, within the village. One of the skeletons was found whole, suggesting someone bothered to bury the animal and likely had some sort of a relationship with it.
The occupants of that village were farmers. The cats' bones contained certain minerals which indicate that the cats fed on small rodents, who in their turn, fed on grain. So, what we basically have is proof that these cats -
1. Lived alongside people.
2. Hunted the rodents that fed on the crops which means the people.
It's fair to assume that there was some sort of domestic relationship going on there (even if the cats weren't actually kept as pets).
At first, researchers thought these cats may have been domesticated cats brought from the Middle East via trade routes. Further analysis shows that they come from an entirely different species of local wild cats. Which means, the Chinese farmers domesticated a local species of cats, in a process that was separate from that which happened in Egypt!
On a grander scale, this means that as humanity formed agricultural societies, we simply needed to have cats around us! Even if you're gluten-sensitive, you have to admit this puts grain and bread in a new perspective
