The wildcat that chose the granary, a burial on Cyprus, the cats of Egypt, ship cats, and the cat on the sofa.
Every house cat descends from the Near Eastern wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica. When the first farmers stored grain, mice came to the stores and wildcats came for the mice. People never had to capture cats; the cats chose the villages, which is why scientists call them partly self-domesticated.
Who benefited first, the farmer or the cat?
At Shillourokambos on Cyprus, archaeologists found a cat buried beside a person about 9,500 years ago. Cats are not native to Cyprus, so people must have carried them across the sea by boat, an early sign of a close bond.
What does a burial tell us that a bone in a rubbish pit cannot?
Ancient Egypt honored cats: the goddess Bastet took a cat form, and temples such as Bubastis kept cats in large numbers. Millions of cat mummies were also raised and sold as offerings, so the cult was an industry as well as a faith.
How can people both worship an animal and breed it to sell?
Ancient DNA shows cats spread out of the Near East with farmers, then rode trading ships, guarding grain and rope from rats. Ship cats sailed on merchant and naval vessels for centuries, which is how cats reached nearly every coast on Earth.
Why would a ship captain want a cat aboard?
About 49 million U.S. households keep at least one cat (APPA 2025). Cats outnumber dogs as pets in many countries, and cat food and litter alone are a multi-billion-dollar trade.
Why might a city apartment favor a cat over a dog?