The domesticated cat

Cats and humans have enjoyed a mostly symbiotic relationship for thousands of years. When and where cats first became domesticated has been a riddle for scientists.

• Some clues first came from the island of Cyprus in 1983, when archaeologists found a cat's jawbone dating back 8,000 years.
• In 2004, an older site in Cyprus was unearthed where a cat had been deliberately buried with a human. This made it more certain that the island's ancient cats were domesticated.
• In 2007, authors of a study declared that cats were first domesticated in the Near East about 12,000 years ago and that they descended from a Middle Eastern wildcat, Felis sylvestris, which means "cat of the woods."

• The ancient Egyptian reverence for cats is well-known - scientists found a cat cemetery in Beni-Hassan with 300,000 cat mummies. The Egyptian goddess of love, Bastet, has the head of a cat.
• Ancient Romans held a similar reverence for the cat, which were seen as a symbol of liberty....