posted
Have been doing some reading about the origins of cat domestication in Egypt and the distribution of early African wildcats when I noticed a few connections worth noting. I decided to share this and post it before I lost track of my thoughts on this issue.
Earliest evidence of cat domestication some scholars agree comes from a burial of a young cat buried next to its human master, some 9,500 ya on the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus--(see BBC's oldest pet cat article). However, it seems that this species was introduced to Cyprus as they appear rather abruptly and at around the same time as other commensal animals (animal opportunists who benefit from human activity) like foxes, who are known to follow people. This would definitely have been the case with the emergence of food producing societies who attracted such animals as mice and left behind more waste that such animals can sift through. Also, Greeks and Romans of later periods were not known to retain any evidence of early cat domestication suggesting that this definitely was not a European tradition, aside from the fact that the cat from said burial reportedly resembled the African wildcat more so than the counter part European version.
In fact, genetic evidence can attest to this as all domestic/house cats living today descend from five African wildcats (see (Felis Silvestris Lybica) who apparently migrated to the Middle East and lived among the first farmers (Natufians). This brings me to my point. We have direct archeological evidence that the Natufians (who in turn we can be confident to say migrated to the middle east somewhere from the African continent around the same time that cats were said to have first been domesticated) were the first to domesticate comensal animals, namely canines. Now, the only undisputed evidence of cat domestication comes from Egypt (see UC Berkeley's Basic Genetics as Revealed by Cats) , so either way it is safe to say that cat domestication very likely began amongst African people. In fact, I'd argue that this is definitely the case as European (catta, gato, catze, etc) and Arabic ("qitt") names for the domestic cat are not near eastern loan words, but rather African ones. "Cat" is derived from the old Nubian word "Kadis" and Berber "Kaddiska", or some variant thereof (see Etymolgy). That these words are likely cognate with the Egyptian word "čaus", suggests that these names come from the same source somewhere in or near the Nile valley among people already very familiar with domestic cats. Whomever introduced the cat to Cypus also introduced a name for it. Given its proximity to Egypt, it isn't surprising that evidence for cat domestication is later seen there as well and more full blown and overt, but does this suggest a back migration and diffusion from the north or diffusion from the south and subsequent evidence for retention in the south? The principle of least moves supports the latter conclusion.
In summary, Keita has stated a long time ago during the Black Athena debates that the ancient Egyptians were nothing but indigenous since at the time of their ethnic inception they'd already been firmly rooted in the region's flora and fauna that was fully adapted into their lifestyles as far back as archeology and records take us. The fact that domestic cats found in Europe have an African name and origin, that the first evidence of cat domestication (per genetics) were among a people noted to have migrated out of Africa sometime just prior, and that Egypt retained evidence of this early domestication of an African species of wildcat further puts the nail in the coffin per archeology, concerning the ultimate origin of Nile valley peoples. These connections remind me of the evidence of fig transportation from Africa to the levant as summarized by Lancaster (2009). I simply haven't seen this brought up here yet so I decided to document my thoughts in a somewhat long-winded post. Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
Interesting point; it deserves a place in the broad scheme of things regarding the peopling of the Nile Valley, and a central role of the region as a pump for both demic diffusion and cultural innovations into adjoining regions, particularly the so-called "Near East".
Ps - Something interesting, as it relates to cat domestication in the Nile Valley, was mentioned here (click)
Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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posted
^" Interesting info.. and well written up. What's the data on fig domestication though?
-------------------- Note: I am not an "Egyptologist" as claimed by some still bitter, defeated, trolls creating fake profiles and posts elsewhere. Hapless losers, you still fail. My output of hard data debunking racist nonsense has actually INCREASED since you began.. Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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