“I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.” – Hippolyte Taine
This first post serves as a teaser to get you thinking about the origins of domestic cats, what role they may play in your life, and to contextualise my own academic journey studying ancient felines. If you have any questions or topics you would like me to cover, please use the ‘contact me’ form.
Cats and cat-related artifacts have always had a prominent place in my life. While the cat-themed stationery, books, toys, clothing, and other assorted cat detritus, were left behind during my many moves as a child and young adult, the passion and interest for cats never waned. This enthusiasm and love for all things feline encouraged my interest in cat psychology and behavior management at age 11, drove me to a major in ancient Egypt at age 18, and finally brought me to the topic of my doctoral dissertation - the domestication of cats. My research is arguably a search for the ancient versions of me - an investigation seeking the peoples and cultures who first looked upon the small faces of wild kittens, and in those moments unfathomably changed their futures.
Much of the discourse within the literature of domestication has cats being domesticated around 4000 BC in Egypt. This is in large part sparked by the sheer quantity of cats found in many Middle and Late Egyptian sites as well as the dominance of cat iconography in their religious and cultural systems. Given culture and religious life are inextricably intertwined within ancient Egypt, and I would be hard pressed to find scholars to disagree with me on this, it was both a safe and reasonable hypothesis to assume that cats were domesticated in Ancient Egypt.
However, these assumptions and hypotheses often stemmed from an overindulgence in the easily accessible - cat mummies and ancient artworks are found in abundance in Egyptian archaeology, and there is a long history of research into Egyptian antiquities, both in the 20th and 21st centuries. Many countries have dipped their fingers into Egypt's antiquities, so it is sensible that scholars would place the domestication of cats at the feet of these ancient peoples.
Modern research into both the genetics and biogeography of Felis lybica (the wild ancestor to our domestic cats) does indeed suggest that domestication of the cat likely occurred in North Africa or through the Levantine Corridor of Southwest Asia. These have been the cradles of domestication for many other animals, the sheep, goat, cow, and horse to name but a few. And thus, once again, logic would dictate this is a prime zone for us to find domestic cats.
