Ancient DNA from cats hints to Early Roman trade in the Indian Ocean world

In the last few years, biomolecular archaeology has made important contributions to phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies, which also have the potential to shed light on the history of early human societies. Cats have a particular position in human societies since they were never used as for food or transport. The beginning of the common history of cats and humans started probably with the onset of agriculture, the development of settlements and the construction of houses and farms. At this time, cats probably developed a commensal relationship with human communities. Archaeological evidence attests fully domesticated cats at least by 3,600 BP, during the Egyptian New Kingdom. A complete cat skeleton found in association with a human burial in Cyprus, around 9,500 BP, argue, however, that early taming of cats may have taken place in the early Neolithic societies of the Near and Middle East. In the course of a phylogeographic study of the distribution of cats throughout the Holocene, we analyzed ancient mtDNA in wild and domestic cats from various archaeological sites in Europe, Southwest Asia and Africa, to investigate the past distributions of Felis silvestris. Here we will highlight a particular result of our study. Indeed, our data from an archaeological site in the Red Sea region point to contacts with the Indian subcontinent during Roman time.status: accepte