Scientists in China have found the first clear evidence of cats living among humans. Their discovery shows the relationship goes back 5,300 years.

The evidence was published Monday. It supports the view that cats began living with people once humans started farming. Dogs had already been tamed thousands of years before by hunters.

The discovery fills in an enormous gap in experts' understanding of how cats became pets. But, it has also confused them. An ancient Chinese village is the last place scientists expected to find such evidence.

"This was a very unexpected find," said Fiona Marshall. She helped write the study. She's a scientist at Washington University in St. Louis.

How Did They Get There?

Today, every house cat in the world comes from a single type of Middle Eastern wildcat. Cats in alleys, on YouTube videos or in your living room all come from the same place.

An ancient village in central China is where the bones were found. Marshall and her partners say that is far beyond the Middle Eastern wildcat's natural travel range. That raises the question of how the cats got there.

Were they brought from the Middle East as pets, or because they were interesting?

Or, did the Chinese kitties come from an Asian type of wildcat? And was it later pushed away somewhere else or wiped out?

Marshall and her partners hope DNA tests will clear up matters. DNA holds the code for every cell in your body. And it tells cells what to do. DNA is also in plants and animals.

In the meantime, experts wonder, what cat is this and where did it come from?

Special Link To Early Farmers

The discovery was of eight bones from at least two cats. They were found in ancient garbage pits. Other animal remains, pottery pieces and tools were found in the pits. The bones in the pits piled up over about 200 years.

Scientists say several things showed that the cats had a special link to farmers.

The bones are about the same size as those of European house cats. But they're smaller than those of European wildcats. Part of a jawbone from one Chinese cat had very worn teeth. That suggests that it was quite old. And that it would have needed help to live to such an old age, they added.

Other evidence comes from bone tests. Scientists can examine chemicals found in bones. They can see whether it mostly ate plants or meat.

Tests showed that one of the Chinese cats appeared to eat a lot of grains. More so than would be expected of a meat-eater living in the wild. That could mean that this cat was unable to hunt. Maybe it ate food humans threw away "or that it was looked after and fed by people," the study said.

Pets In Ancient Egypt

Scientists have long thought that cats started to become more like pets because of farms. Wildcats, they believe, were probably drawn to farming areas. There were plenty of food scraps there and an easy supply of rats and mice.

Ancient humans probably allowed cats to stick around because they got rid of rats and mice.

The theory makes sense, but proving it has been difficult.

The oldest evidence of a special link between cats and humans dates back 9,500 years to the island of Cyprus. There, scientists discovered the full skeleton of a wildcat. It was buried near a human. The closeness of the skeletons to each other suggests the cat might have been tamed, experts say.

Until now, the next-oldest record of cats living with people came from ancient Egypt. Paintings and writings were found in 4,000-year-old tombs of people who had been buried. They described cats being kept as pets in the homes of the rich.]]>