# Oldest Pet Cat



## Brian G Turner (Apr 9, 2004)

*The oldest known evidence of people keeping cats as pets may have been  discovered by archaeologists.
*
 The discovery of a cat buried with what could be its owner in a Neolithic  grave on Cyprus suggests domestication of cats had begun 9,500 years ago.  It was thought the Egyptians were first to domesticate cats, with the  earliest evidence dating to 2,000-1,900 BC.  

 French researchers writing in Science magazine show that the process actually  began much earlier than that.  

 The evidence comes from the Neolithic, or late stone age, village of  Shillourokambos on Cyprus, which was inhabited from the 9th to the 8th millennia  BC.



 More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3611453.stm


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## mythusmage (Sep 19, 2004)

Where are the other cats? With Egypt there is a long history of cats in culture and society. There are cats in art, history, legend, and public and private life. In Cyprus all you have is a single cat. Even with the Silver Fox it took a few generations to produce a domesticated animal. What the Cypriot discovery shows is that somebody had a pet cat.

Felines are curious beasts. You hand raise a kitten from about 6 to 8 weeks of age and you'll get an animal that is pretty tractable. It happens with lynxes, bobcats, servals, and even cheetahs and cougars. Given the circumstances surrounding the discovery I'd say the animal was a wild cat, found as a very young kitten and raised by hand. Not the first domesticated cat by a wide margin, nor the ancestor of domesticated cats today, since (the last I heard) no one has found any evidence of feline domestication in ancient Cyprus other than this solitary incident.

So unless further evidence is found Egypt gets to keep the credit for foisting the cat on humanity.


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## littlemissattitude (Sep 19, 2004)

They've got it backwards, you know.  It isn't when humans started domesticating cats...it's when cats started domesticating humans.  Anyone who has ever lived with a cat knows who's really the boss.


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## kyektulu (Aug 12, 2005)

I agree with mythusmage I was going to say something very similar myself but got beaten to it. 

Although littlemissattitude I feel the same way about my pet cat, she definetly owns me not the other way round!


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## Enadil Moonweaver (Oct 28, 2006)

I have had cats all my life and let me tell you they are bossy demanding little critters but you can't help but love them


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## carrie221 (Oct 29, 2006)

Wow... I had never heard of there being a chance of cats domesticating humans that early... I am not sure that I believe it but it is interesting


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## Esioul (Nov 11, 2006)

I think dogs are supposed to be the earliest domesticated animals, but it sounds like cats were tamed fairly early on too. I have to say I'm not very keen on cats.


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## SpaceShip (Nov 11, 2006)

Well, I think I, Brian's question has gonea little bit off track here!  I agree with him - there is much evidence of the cat first being domesticated (actually, more, worshipped) in Egypt than in any other country.  Each country appears to have it's own venerated animal, eg Indian elephant.


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