New research suggests 10,000 years ago
humans were just beginning to domesticate wheat and
barley, set up villages, and become farmers...
cats domesticated themselves.
One of the few, if not only animal to do this.

Unlike other animals which humans capture and tame,
the cat forced itself to adapt to the human enivornment.
This can help explain why cats have such independent
natures.

The story:
Cats came to the outskirts of the villages where they
felt safer from bigger faster predators.

The rodents who stole grain and infested human dwellings
were easy prey for cats.

Humans, seeing cats were beneficial, tolerated their presence.
When cats had litters of kittens, human children were
delighted and played with them...any mother can tell you
keeping a child occupied with a playtoy for a few minutes
is something of value.

It is believed at least 5 females of the wildcat subspecies
Felis Silvestris Lybica accomplished this transistion to village
life from the wild.

cats are descended.

The science:
6 years were spent collecting DNA samples from different
species of cats from all over the world.
5 subspecies of cats fall into 5 clusters of DNA patterns.
The DNA of all house cats and fancy cats fall into 1 subspecies
of cat; the Near Eastern Wildcat.
The house cats also fall into 5 lineages based on studies of
mitochondrial DNA analysis...a type only passed down through
the female line...hence the 5 matriarchs.

The history:
The Near Eastern Wildcat origins come from what is now
Israel, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.

Previously, it was thought that cats had been domesticated
by the ancient Egyptians.
Recently the oldest known burial site that includes a cat
with his owner was uncovered in Cyprus, dating back
9,500 years...long before the Egyptian civilization started.

Since Cyprus is an island, no cats were native. It is believed
the human owner brought the cat with him (along with other animals)
from Turkey to settle the island.
Thus the cat would have already been domesticated at that much
earlier time.