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5,000 years of history of domestic cats in Central Europe
EurekAlert! ^ | July 13, 2020 | Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun

Posted on 07/15/2020 5:45:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

A loner and a hunter with highly developed territorial instincts, a cruel carnivore, a disobedient individual: the cat. These features make the species averse to domestication. Even so, we did it. Nowadays, about 500 million cats live in households all around the world; it is also difficult to estimate the amount of the homeless and the feral ones.

Although the common history of cats and people began 10,000 years ago, the origins of the relation still remain unknown... Scientists from the Institute of Archaeology at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun have outstanding merits in this field. An article discussing significant research achievements in the area has been published in PNAS, a prestigious official journal of the National Academy of Sciences. The first author is Dr Magdalena Krajcarz who has made an attempt to find ancestors of domestic cats in Neolithic Central Europe. By analyzing cat diet, she is trying to check how close they cohabitated with people...

It does not mean, however, that cats had entered into no relations with people even earlier. The first, best-documented domesticated cat remains on the territory of Poland date back to the beginnings of our era. The animals are believed to have spread across Central Europe mainly due to the influence of the Roman Empire. Nonetheless, the earliest cat remains in the area date back to even 4,200-2,300 BC and evidence the first migrations of the Nubian cat which originally inhabited the Near East and North Africa. This particular species is considered as the ancestor of domestic cats in Central Europe.

(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: animalhusbandry; centraleurope; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; neolithic; nubiancat; poland; romanempire
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Credit: Maike Glöckner / MLU

Credit: Maike Glöckner / MLU

1 posted on 07/15/2020 5:45:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

2 posted on 07/15/2020 5:45:57 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

Kitty Ping


3 posted on 07/15/2020 5:46:55 PM PDT by left that other site (If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. (Isaiah 7:9))
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To: left that other site

can’t hug every cat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CheBneJ9HmA


4 posted on 07/15/2020 5:48:30 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: SunkenCiv; Slings and Arrows

Please PING.


5 posted on 07/15/2020 5:50:29 PM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: BenLurkin

LOL!

True.


6 posted on 07/15/2020 5:50:40 PM PDT by left that other site (If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. (Isaiah 7:9))
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To: Biggirl

7 posted on 07/15/2020 5:52:31 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv
One candidate progenitor species https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_cat


8 posted on 07/15/2020 5:53:19 PM PDT by HangnJudge (When one is in a house of mirrors, everywhere you stand is “center)
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To: SunkenCiv

When all the kids ask, “Can we keep it?” you know domestication is only a few thousand years away.


9 posted on 07/15/2020 5:53:37 PM PDT by Buttons12
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To: SunkenCiv

“Due to the influence of the Roman Empire”

“Flavius! Bring up the catapault and launch some calicos at these barbarians!”


10 posted on 07/15/2020 5:55:43 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: HangnJudge
I think the Sand Cats starred in that 1960s show "Cat Patrol".

11 posted on 07/15/2020 5:55:50 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: blueunicorn6

Hence the name, catapault.


12 posted on 07/15/2020 5:57:33 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: HangnJudge

That does look like the Model T of the species, although it appears the crank is in the rear.


13 posted on 07/15/2020 5:59:12 PM PDT by Buttons12
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To: blueunicorn6

“Retreat! Retreat! They’re flinging cats at us! What a catastrophe!”


14 posted on 07/15/2020 6:01:08 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: HangnJudge

There he is.

In my flowers again.


15 posted on 07/15/2020 6:03:39 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: HangnJudge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_wildcat


16 posted on 07/15/2020 6:05:40 PM PDT by EBH ( The United States Went Down with the Leftists, a shot wasn't even fired to stop them.)
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To: BenLurkin
Some of them still lack full domestication.


17 posted on 07/15/2020 6:10:39 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: SunkenCiv

We didn’t domesticate cats. We came to a mutually beneficial agreement.

CC


18 posted on 07/15/2020 6:11:04 PM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
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To: BenLurkin
And the species is still evolving.


19 posted on 07/15/2020 6:14:14 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: SunkenCiv

Lots of cats are better than lots of rodents.


20 posted on 07/15/2020 6:20:45 PM PDT by Arcadian Empire
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