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New scientific research has shed light on the timeline and location of how cats transitioned from wild hunters to domesticated companions. Contrary to earlier beliefs that cat domestication took place around 10,000 years ago in the Levant, recent analysis indicates that this significant relationship with humans began only about 3,500 to 4,000 years ago, originating in northern Africa. Professor Greger Larson from the University of Oxford highlighted the modern ubiquity of cats and their cultural prominence, noting, “That relationship we have with cats now only gets started about 3.5 or 4,000 years ago, rather than 10,000 years ago.”
All present-day domestic cats descend from the African wildcat species, though the exact circumstances of their domestication had long remained unclear. To unravel this mystery, scientists examined DNA extracted from cat bones recovered from various archaeological sites spanning Europe, North Africa, and Anatolia. By dating these remains and comparing their genetic information with those of contemporary cats, the researchers found that domestication was not linked to the dawn of agriculture in the Levant. Instead, it appears to have been a development predominantly associated with ancient Egyptian civilization. Professor Larson noted, “Instead of happening in that area where people are first settling down with agriculture, it looks like it is much more of an Egyptian phenomenon.”
This aligns with historical knowledge of ancient Egypt, where cats held a revered status, commonly depicted in art and even mummified. After becoming domesticated, cats spread globally, initially prized as ship companions and effective controllers of pests. They only arrived in Europe roughly 2,000 years ago, traveling with the Romans before moving further east along trade routes such as the Silk Road into China. Today, cats are found virtually worldwide, except for Antarctica.
An intriguing additional discovery reveals that in China, a different wild feline—the leopard cat—lived alongside humans in a commensal relationship for approximately 3,500 years before the arrival of domestic cats. Professor Shu-Jin Luo of Peking University in Beijing explained, “Leopard cats benefited from living near people, while humans were largely unaffected or even welcomed them as natural rodent controllers.” Although leopard cats never underwent domestication and remain wild, they were later bred with domestic cats to create the Bengal breed, recognized in the 1980s. The findings of this research have been published in both *Science* and *Cell Genomics* journals
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