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| Cat in the old town of Şanlıurfa (southeastern Anatolia, Turkey). Photo Credit: © Nadja Pöllath, SNSB |
Cats are among the most successful domestic mammals; they are widespread throughout the world, even in the most remote areas around the globe. Their estimated number is around one billion. Earlier studies have shown that the domestic cat Felis catus descended from the North African wildcat Felis lybica lybica.
Archaeological remains also prove that cats joined humans almost 10,000 years ago, but the complex evolution of their domestication, particularly the geographical region, the timing and the circumstances of their spread, remain largely unclear to this day. This is partly due to the scarcity of feline remains in archaeological contexts and the difficulty of attributing skeletal fragments to wild or domesticated forms.
An international research team has now used genetic analysis to prove that domestic cats did not arrive in Europe 6000 to 7000 years ago with Neolithic farmers from the Near East, as previously assumed. Instead, they were introduced to Europe several millennia later, around 2000 years ago, from North Africa. This conclusion is based on the analysis of DNA samples from 225 cats from 97 archaeological sites in Europe and Anatolia. The researchers were able to generate 87 genomes from ancient and modern cats, with the oldest samples examined dating around 11,000 years ago.
Professor Joris Peters from the Bavarian State Collection of Palaeoanatomy and LMU contributed to the design of the study, directed by Professor Claudio Ottoni from the University of Rome Tor Vergata and Professor Wim van Neer from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. The State collection also contributed important sample material for the study.
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Ancient cat skulls analysed in the dedicated ancient DNA facilities of the Department of Biology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
Photo Credit: © ERC-Felix Project, Dept. of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata
To Europe over the sea
For the first time, genetic evidence showed that the geographical origin of modern domestic cats lies in North Africa and not, as previously assumed, in the Middle East. Researchers suggest that sailors brought cats from there to Europe around 2,000 years ago. They identified two genetically distinct populations from North Africa. One of them reached Sardinia and established the wildcat population still surviving on the island today. The second reached the European mainland during Roman times and contributed significantly to the gene pool of modern domestic cats.
"Due to the abundant supply of rats and mice or waste from fishing, North African wildcats probably settled permanently in grain-growing settlements or ports and thus became accustomed to living close to humans. We therefore assume that wildcat populations from multiple regions and cultures in North Africa were involved in the complex domestication process. One of the future research tasks will therefore be to further narrow down the early phase of cat keeping in North Africa in terms of geography and time, and to clarify the sociocultural and economic processes that led to their domestication and global spread," says Joris Peters.
Published in journal: Science
Title: The dispersal of domestic cats from North Africa to Europe around 2000 years ago
Authors: M. De Martino, B. De Cupere , V. Rovelli, P. Serventi, B. Mouraud, M. Baldoni, T. Di Corcia, S. Geiger, F. Alhaique, P. C. Alves, H. Buitenhuis, E. Ceccaroni, E. Cerilli, J. De Grossi Mazzorin, C. Detry, M. Dowd, I. Fiore, L. Gourichon, I. Grau-Sologestoa, H. C. Küchelmann, G. K. Kunst, M. Mccarthy, R. Miccichè, C. Minniti, M. Moreno, N. MrđIć, V. Onar, T. Oueslati, M. Parrag, B. Pino Uria, G. Romagnoli, M. Rugge, L. Salari, K. Saliari, A. B. Santos, U. Schmölcke, A. Sforzi, G. Soranna, N. Spassov, A. Tagliacozzo, V. Tinè, S. Trixl, S. Vuković, U. Wierer, B. Wilkens, S. Doherty, N. Sykes, L. Frantz, F. Mattucci, R. Caniglia, G. Larson, J. Peters, W. Van Neer, and C. Ottoni
Source/Credit: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Reference Number: arch112825_01