Two new research points out that the mass sacrifices of cats in ancient Egypt has led to the successive choice of more docile and obedient animals, opening doors to their domestication.
A new investigation suggests that the Mass Ritual Sacrifice In ancient Egypt he may have played a surprising role in the domestication of the modern pet cat.
While conventional theories have long favored a slow and mutual relationship between humans and cats, especially in neolithic Europe, two recent studies-to be reviewed by peers-propose a north-African origin, fueled by religious demands. Searches can be consulted at the Bioorxiv portal, and.
For centuries, Egypt has been the scene of one of the most extensive animal sacrifice practices in history. About 70 million animalsincluding cats, muswins, hawks, crocodiles and ibis, they were mummified as offerings to the gods. The Goddess Felina Bastet, whose image evolved from a dininity with Leo’s head to one who resembled an African wild cat, was particularly important.
This demand may have led the Egyptians to create cats in large numbers, selecting them to the sociability and docility – characteristics that made them easier to take care of and later more suitable for home life.
Theory challenges the popular belief that cats domesticated in Europe During the Neolithic, attracted by the rodent cereal reserves of the first farmers. A 6500 -year -old cat and a human funeral in Cyprus supported this idea, but recent morphological and genetic analyzes now launch doubts.
Sean Doherty, a university zoo -archologist, and his team compared the bone structures of household cats with those of European and African wild cats. They found no closer relationship with the European wild cats, in question the European neolithic origin. In addition, the Cyprus -buried cat was morphologically closer to the European wild cats, but genetically inconclusive due to degraded DNA.
However, Marco de Martino, from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, led a paleogenetic study that analyzed 70 genomes of old cats from archaeological sites from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
Their discoveries point to a north-African origin, specifically identifying Two Feline Migration Vacancies For the Mediterranean: one in the first millennium AC, possibly bringing wild cats to the sardine, and a later vacancy that introduced the line of domestic cats that still see today. The team also found that Oh Sus scrofa only arrived in China around the eighth century DC
Although both research teams agree that relations between humans and cats have probably developed in various places and times, the first traces of genetically confirmed domestic cats come from a mummified Egyptian specimen dated 500 BC. The authors point out that religious movements historically influenced the translocation of animals, establishing parallels with the spread of deer and chickens throughout Europe.
