Domestic cats came to Europe from North Africa just 2,000 years ago - DNA analysis reveals

New genetic evidence shows that modern domestic cats (Felis catus) arrived in Europe much later than previously thought.

According to a study published in the journal Science, they were introduced from North Africa about 2,000 years ago, rather than accompanying Neolithic farmers 6,000 years ago, as previous models had suggested.

The scientists analysed the genomes of 70 ancient cats up to 11,000 years old from archaeological sites in Europe and Anatolia, as well as DNA from 17 modern feral cats from Italy, Bulgaria and North Africa. The comparison showed that genetically, modern domestic cats are closer to the African wild cat Felis lybica lybica than to ancient populations from the Levant.

Before "Africans": the European wild cat and hybrids

Pre-antique Europe had its own wild cat, Felis silvestris, whose remains are recorded in archaeological layers dating earlier than 2,000 years ago. Researchers have found evidence of interbreeding between the native European wildcat and the native African F. l. lybica, which explains the crossbreeding. l. lybica, which explains the previously discovered hybrid forms. However, it was these hybrids that did not become the ancestors of modern domestic cats.

The authors of the work note that the relationship between humans and wild cats in ancient Europe could be very different: from the use of animals for meat and fur to symbolic and ritual practices. This is evidenced, for example, by the bones of wild cats in the Mesolithic site of Galgenbühel and the discovery of cat remains in a vessel in Bronze Age Sicily.

A special case: the Sardinian "wild" cats

A separate line of evolution can be traced back to the cats of Sardinia. DNA analysis has shown that the island population is descended from another North African lineage and arrived in Sardinia in a separate wave of migration from Northwest Africa as early as the first millennium BC. Later, these animals were long considered a special subspecies of the "Sardinian wildcat".

Researchers speculate that both the "common" domestic cats and the Sardinian population originate from two different North African sources, conventionally related to modern populations from Tunisia and Morocco.

Domestication: a complex and multifocal process

The authors of the paper emphasise that cat domestication was not a single event, but a complex and time-spanning process involving different regions and cultures in North Africa. The findings challenge the simple "cats came with farmers from the Levant" scheme and point to the important role of North African centres - including those associated with religious and cultural practices.

The scientists expect that further analyses of samples from Egypt and other regions will help to better identify the original populations from which modern domestic cats evolved and reconstruct how they spread around the world.