3min chapter

Unexpected Elements cover image

Human genome editing: Promise and Peril

Unexpected Elements

CHAPTER

The Relationship Between Cats and Humans

Dr Gegel: Neolithic farmers migrated out of Anatolia 8,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found cat remains that were not the type of European wild cat. This indicated that these cats came with the Neolithic farmers. Cats killed rodents on board ships as humans started to migrate overseas. So where humans travelled, so did cats.

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Speaker 2
For example, Europe had the ancestors of the Scottish wild cats we've just met. But then something changed. Dr Gegel picks up the story when these early farmers went on the move. Around 8,000 years
Speaker 7
ago, when Neolithic farmers migrated out of Anatolia, in these Neolithic archaeological sites that testify the presence of the first farmers from Anatolia that came into Europe, we found cat remains that were not the type of the European wild cat. So this indicated that these cats came with the Neolithic farmers. One of the examples is the first archaeological finding on Cyprus, an island in the eastern Mediterranean that was not inhabited by any feline species before the Neolithic. And at the beginning of the Neolithic, archaeologists have found a burial of a child with a cat. Now we cannot say whether this cat was a wild cat or a tamed cat, but we can say that this cat came with these first Neolithic farmers. And this means there was a special relationship between these cats and the first farmers. Now how can we imagine that this relationship was acquired? Well, we can imagine that the first farmers started to accumulate grains. And of course, if you have accumulation of seeds and grains, you will attract rodents. But this also attracted cats, the wild cats that were living in the environment around. And those cats who were the least afraid of the human presence, they would have run after the rodents and really feast on these rodents. So the cats that were the least shy started to just live with these early farmers who must have been delighted to have these cats around. And this is how we imagine that this relationship between cats and humans
Speaker 2
started. Cats were also crucial for humans as they started to migrate overseas. They killed the rodents on board ships, thus protecting the precious food stores, sales and even the wood of the ship itself. So where humans travelled, so did cats. Though if you've ever tried to get a cat near water, you might suspect they got them on board in a rather coercive way.

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