Archaeological Update: Research uncovers domestication of cats in Egypt
Photo courtesy of Gary Todd / Wikimedia Commons
For decades, researchers have theorized that ancient cats in and around Cyprus— located southeast of Greece, south of Turkey —most likely followed early farmers and then “gradually got accustomed to living with humans over thousands of years," according to The Independent.
New DNA studies, however, debunk this theory— though they are yet to be peer-reviewed. The Independent explained, “Finding that the Cyprus animal is actually a European wildcat, and not a domesticated cat.” The article continues with researchers saying, “This brings the focus back to Egypt as the origin site of cat domestication, possibly as recently as 3000 years ago.”
Preprint server bioRxiv states, “We demonstrate that domestic cats did not spread to Europe with Neolithic farmers, as previously thought.” Scientists now suspect that domesticated forms of wildcats in ancient Egypt, before cats were tamed to be pets, were actually first sacrificed in mass cult rituals for Bastet, bringing the origins back to Egypt.
Archaeologists claim the Egyptian goddess Bastet, depicted with a lion’s head, was the goddess of protection, pleasure, and good health. Starting as a lion, she later became represented with the head of a cat around the first millennium BC, The Independent explains. The American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) says, “Her famed symbolization as a cat is a later development that reflects subtle changes in religious beliefs over many centuries of Egyptian history… A cat symbolized the gentler, more accessible, more attractive nature of a feline goddess.”
The Independent reports, “This transformation was coincident with the rise of cat sacrifice, whereby millions of free-ranging and specifically-reared cats were mummified as offerings to the goddess.” Due to the vast ancient agricultural landscapes excavated at the site of the Baset temple, there were most likely a large number of rodents— and with rodents came the cats that hunted them.
ARCE reports, “This would have provided the context for the tighter relationship between people and cats that led to the wildcat’s domestication, motivated by their newly acquired divine status.” While the sacred depictions of animals are not inherently linked to their individual domestication, there is evidence that suggests they may be connected.
The Independent states, “For instance, previous research has shown that the spread of the fallow deer is linked to the Greek goddess Artemis and of chickens to the cult of Mithras.” Research suggests that the same is true for the domestication of cats and the worship of the Egyptian goddess Bastet. As for the spread of domestication into the Mediterranean, ARCE reports, “From the New Kingdom onward, the cult of Bastet enjoyed increasing popularity, especially in the 1st millennium BC when it spread outside Egypt into the Mediterranean world.”
In bioRxiv’s concluding statement, they explained the nuanced research moving forward. “Our results offer a new interpretative framework for the geographic origin of domestic cats, suggesting a broader and more complex process of domestication that may have involved multiple regions and cultures in North Africa.” They continue, “Efforts should continue to pinpoint the original source population(s) of present-day domestic cats, and to clarify the cultural and socio-economic processes that led to their domestication and global dispersal.”