Cyprus Island: 1983The jaw of a cat was discovered to be about 8,000 years old and scientists believed that the domestication of cats began before this. In 2004, an even older burial site, a cat was buried with a human and scientists then confirmed that the cats on this ancient island were domesticated. This pushed the dates of domestication back about 1,500 years.
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Middle East's Fertile CrescentHumans are natural hunters, so dogs helped with that a lot more than a cat would. Naturally, a dog was domesticated long before a cat was. Cats only became useful when humans began to settle down and they began getting grains, which with grains followed mice. The wild cats would travel into cities and loved the abundance of food, so they almost domesticated themselves and the people loved the pest control.
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Evolution of The Cat ReputationAncient Egypt:
Bastet, the goddess of love, was said to have cats head so in killing a cat in Egypt it was the death sentence. Scientist found a cat cemetery which contained 300,000 cat mummies. Ancient Rome: They were similar to Egypt , but the cat represented liberty and valued for protection. Middle Ages Europe: Cats were demonized and said to be connected to witches and the devil. Many cats were killed in order to ward off evil. This action actually helped the plague to spread because it was carried by rats. Of coarse, cats killed rats. Now: Cats are idolized. The protagonists of T.V. shows, but then again cats can't seem to shake the association with evil. You don't see an evil villain stroking the head of a Chiwawa now, do you? |