Were Cats Domesticated by People Who Relied on Stored Cereal Grains

Indeed, Vigne and others have argued ... grain attracted armies of rodents; the tamest cats, meanwhile, cozied up to humans, self-domesticating themselves over the course of thousands of years....

One cat was old and one ate less meat and more millet than others, suggesting it scavenged leftovers or was fed. Diverse data demonstrate rodent threats to stored grain, indicating cats were advantageous to farmers, whereas food in villages was attractive to cats. These findings provide evidence for commensal processes of cat domestication.

Humans, dogs, and domestic farm animals from that period show expectedly high δ15N values. A moderately elevated δ15N signal also occurred in some rodents, likely because the pests consumed grain crops grown by people. The isotopic signature of Late Neolithic NE cats suggests that they were free-living, not dependent on a human-produced food, and preyed upon synanthropic mice and voles (i.e., crop pests).

We report on the presence of cats directly dated between 5560-5280 cal B.P. in the early agricultural village of Quanhucun in Shaanxi, China. These cats were outside the wild range of Near Eastern wildcats and biometrically smaller, but within the size-range of domestic cats. The δ(13)C and δ(15)N values of human and animal bone collagen revealed substantial consumption of millet-based foods by humans, rodents, and cats. Ceramic storage containers designed to exclude rodents indicated a threat to stored grain in Yangshao villages.

The advent of agriculture altered human culture from nomadic hunter-gatherers to more sedentary lifestyles, leading to the establishment of increasingly larger settlements. Grain stores and refuse from developing societies attracted mice, which led to a synanthropic trinity between humans, rodents, and felids. Archeological evidence suggests the domestication process of F.s.

Carbon isotopes indicate that rodents, domestic dogs and pigs from the ancient village were eating millet, but deer were not. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes show that cats were preying on animals that lived on farmed millet, probably rodents.

One cat seemed to have been confused about its mission though, with isotopic data showing it ate more grain than meat! It’s possible that this cat was older and unable to hunt, and so was fed leftovers by the village inhabitants.[iii] This mutually beneficial or ‘commensal’ relationship persisted for centuries, or even millennia. However, it is a widely held belief that cats were not fully domesticated until the rise of Ancient Egypt.

The study's findings suggest that there was not a single core region of cat domestication, but that several regions and cultures in North Africa played a role, according to zooarchaeologist and study co-author Bea De Cupere of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. "The timing of the genetic waves of introduction from North Africa coincides with periods when trade around the Mediterranean intensified strongly. Cats likely traveled as efficient mouse hunters on grain ships but possibly also as valued animals with religious and symbolic significance," De Cupere said.

Researchers found evidence that rodents threatened the village grain supply by burrowing into storage vessels that were designed to keep them out. The ancient feline bones revealed chemical signatures indicating the animals had eaten rodents ...