The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world

Ottoni and colleagues sequenced mitochondrial DNA from more than 200 ancient cats spanning 9,000 years, from Mesolithic Europe through Viking-age ports to Egyptian mummies. They identified two major dispersal waves: an early spread of the Near Eastern lineage alongside Neolithic farmers, and a later expansion of an Egyptian maternal lineage during classical antiquity that radiated across the Mediterranean and into northern Europe along trade and maritime routes. The work showed cats moved with people as ships' ratters and companions rather than through deliberate breeding programs. The team also dated the blotched tabby coat marking, finding it appeared only in the medieval period, evidence that visible selection on coat pattern is a recent phenomenon long after the functional relationship began.