TY - JOUR T1 - Research article, Biological Sciences - Anthropology, Genetics Of cats and men: the paleogenetic history of the dispersal of cats in the ancient world JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/080028 SP - 080028 AU - Claudio Ottoni AU - Wim Van Neer AU - Bea De Cupere AU - Julien Daligault AU - Silvia Guimaraes AU - Joris Peters AU - Nikolai Spassov AU - Mary E. Prendergast AU - Nicole Boivin AU - Arturo Morales AU - Adrian Bălăşescu AU - Cornelia Becker AU - Norbert Benecke AU - Adina Boronenanţ AU - Hijlke Buitenhuis AU - Jwana Chahoud AU - Alison Crowther AU - Laura Llorente AU - Nina Manaseryan AU - Hervé Monchot AU - Vedat Onar AU - Marta Osypińska AU - Olivier Putelat AU - Jacqueline Studer AU - Ursula Wierer AU - Ronny Decorte AU - Thierry Grange AU - Eva-Maria Geigl Y1 - 2016/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/10/09/080028.abstract N2 - The origin and dispersal of the domestic cat remain elusive despite its importance to human societies around the world. Archaeological evidence for domestication centers in the Near East and in Egypt is contested, and genetic data on modern cats show that Felis silvestris lybica, the subspecies of wild cat inhabiting at present the Near East and Northern Africa, is the only ancestor of the domestic cat. Here we provide the first broad geographic and chronological dataset of ancient cat mtDNA sequences, drawing on archaeological specimens from across western Eurasia and northern and eastern Africa, dating from throughout the Holocene and spanning ~9,000 years. We characterized the ancient phylogeography of F. s. lybica, showing that it expanded up to southeastern Europe prior to the Neolithic, and reconstructed the subsequent movements that profoundly transformed its distribution and shaped its early cultural history. We found that maternal lineages from both the Near East and Egypt contributed to the gene pool of the domestic cat at different historical times, with the Near Eastern population providing the first major contribution during the Neolithic and the Egyptian cat spreading efficiently across the Old World during the Classical period. This expansion pattern and range suggest dispersal along maritime and terrestrial routes of trade and connectivity. Late trait selection is suggested by the first occurrence in our dataset of the major allele for blotched-tabby body marking not earlier than during the Late Middle Ages.Significance The cat has long been important to human societies as a pest-control agent, object of symbolic value, and companion animal, but little is known about its domestication process and early anthropogenic dispersal. Our DNA analyses of geographically and temporally widespread archaeological cat remains show that while the cat’s world-wide conquest began in prehistoric times, when tamed cats accompanied humans on their journeys over land and sea, it gained momentum during the Classical period, when the Egyptian cat successfully spread throughout the ancient world. The appearance of a new coat pattern at the end of the Middle Ages suggests late breeding control that might explain the semi-domestic status of the cat. This distinguishes the domestication process of cats from that of most other domesticates. ER -