Researchers in Poland have discovered the remains of a cat which could date as far back as 4,200 BCE, an 'unexpected' discovery that suggests cats had spread through Europe much farther and earlier than previously thought. The discovery was made by a team of archaeozoologists from Nicolaus Copernicus University, who excavated four caves in southern Poland that had been sites of early farming settlements. Farmers from the Fertile Crescent first appear to have arrived in Poland a little over 6,000 years ago, just around the same period the cat samples were from. The team analyzed the chemical makeup of the bone samples and compared it to samples from 34 other species found in the region to learn more about how the cat lived. The team hopes that their findings will could inspire a new wave of research documenting how cats became domesticated in Europe.

Source: Daily Mail July 14, 2020 21:52 UTC