10,000 yrs. ago, cats domesticated themselves
studio
humans were just beginning to domesticate wheat and
barley, set up villages, and become farmers...
cats domesticated themselves.
One of the few, if not only animal to do this.
Unlike other animals which humans capture and tame,
the cat forced itself to adapt to the human enivornment.
This can help explain why cats have such independent
natures.
The story:
Cats came to the outskirts of the villages where they
felt safer from bigger faster predators.
The rodents who stole grain and infested human dwellings
were easy prey for cats.
Humans, seeing cats were beneficial, tolerated their presence.
When cats had litters of kittens, human children were
delighted and played with them...any mother can tell you
keeping a child occupied with a playtoy for a few minutes
is something of value.
It is believed at least 5 females of the wildcat subspecies
Felis Silvestris Lybica accomplished this transistion to village
life from the wild.
>From these 5 matriarchs, all the worlds 600 million house
cats are descended.
The science:
6 years were spent collecting DNA samples from different
species of cats from all over the world.
5 subspecies of cats fall into 5 clusters of DNA patterns.
The DNA of all house cats and fancy cats fall into 1 subspecies
of cat; the Near Eastern Wildcat.
The house cats also fall into 5 lineages based on studies of
mitochondrial DNA analysis...a type only passed down through
the female line...hence the 5 matriarchs.
The history:
The Near Eastern Wildcat origins come from what is now
Israel, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.
Previously, it was thought that cats had been domesticated
by the ancient Egyptians.
Recently the oldest known burial site that includes a cat
with his owner was uncovered in Cyprus, dating back
9,500 years...long before the Egyptian civilization started.
Since Cyprus is an island, no cats were native. It is believed
the human owner brought the cat with him (along with other animals)
from Turkey to settle the island.
Thus the cat would have already been domesticated at that much
earlier time.
studio
> Recently the oldest known burial site that includes a cat
> with his owner was uncovered in Cyprus, dating back
> 9,500 years...long before the Egyptian civilization started.
Just an additional note;
you can begin to see just how important this man, and his
family thought the cat was of importance to them by being
buried together.
A presignature of equating cats with being sent by Gods
to protect human harvests of grain, and rid their dwellings
of rodent pests.
Nobody
"studio" <tl...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Nobody
"studio" <tl...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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William Graham
it's owner when the owner died......
studio
> Unfortunately, they probably killed the cat, and/or buried it alive with
> it's owner when the owner died......
While that's the most probable scenerio, in their minds, it may have
been logical to them to send the cat along with the owner to help
protect
his sustainance in the afterlife, and show the Gods that they were
recipiants of favor from a God...in a strange way we can't quite
relate
to now.
The cat had probably procreated and done it's job well.
The fact that they were buried together shows the high
esteem the family had placed on the cat...almost as equals.
The Egyptian Pharoahs did similiar things with cats and other human
servants.
The belief that you needed some of the most precious worldly
possesions, or you wouldn't be able to proceed in the afterlife
in how you were accustomed to in the worldly life.
Many times in these burial sites, jewels, weapons, food, drink,
grains, seeds were buried with them.
The cat no doubt was just another one of these valued possesions
to serve a purpose in protecting harvests in the afterlife.
William Graham
cat.......Human beings seldom can't find a way to justify their
cruelty.......