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When animals became domes<cated, they gained protec<on from starva<on, preda<on and disease but lost freedom. This is very well exemplified with the dog, the first animal that had been domes<cated and that is very different from its ancestor, the wolf, in terms of behavior, morphology and physiology, which is also seen in its genome. But what about the cat that in many cases is s<ll difficult to dis<nguish from wildcats, even at the genomic level, and whose behavior is not too different from the one of wildcats either? I t was known f rom ana lyses o f the mitochondrial DNA from modern cats that all domes<c cats, including feral ones, descend from the north African wildcat F. s. lybica, that is also present in southwest Asia. This is the region where humans first started during the Neolithic period to domes<cate plants, seNled down and began farming. They also started to domes<cate those animals that they used to hunt and eat, such as sheep, goats and pigs. The archeological find of a cat skeleton in a ca. 9,500-year-old child burial on Cyprus suggests that early Neolithic farmers had transported the cat to this island. This also suggests that cats had been drawn into the human sphere of life, presumably through the "vector" rodents that thrived on cereals stocks accumulated by the farmers who seNled, for the first <me in human history, in the Fer<le Crescent. Rodents destroy the harvest through feeding upon it but also through pollu<ng it with their excrements. Moreover, they gnaw on organic material, such as ropes on ships or leather parts of weapons. Cats preyed on these animals delivering the farmers from these pests and venomous animals. A commensal rela<onship was established that benefiNed both partners. We performed a paleogene<c analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of more than 300 archeological cat remains from the last 10,000 years in Europe, South West Asia and North Africa. In agreement with the hypothesis that the transloca<on of animals by Neolithic farmers is indica<ve of an early taming process, the phylogeographic paNern of cats changed aXer the Neolithiza<on. Indeed, the Anatolian lineage of ancient na<ve F. s. lybica wildcat, was found in more recent remains from southeast Europe as well as elsewhere in southwest Asia where it is known, from archeological data, that the Anatolian farmers had migrated at later periods. Many archeologists had been convinced for a long <me that the cat had been tamed in Egypt because of the par<cular role that cats had played in ancient Egypt. This was deduced from tombs and statues, but also described by GreekRoman writers such as Herodotus. Indeed, so far it was the abundant Egyp<an iconography that represented the major source of informa<on about the prominent place, worshipped and adored, allocated to cats in ancient Egypt. Due to this par<cular status, we were not too surprised when we found a par<cular mitochondrial lineage in cat remains from Egypt da<ng to the 1st millennium BCE. We were surprised, however, to see this lineage spreading very fast and efficiently to other loca<ons within a few centuries, including a Viking site at the Bal<c Sea. In Anatolia by Roman <mes, the na<ve lineage was not the majority anymore, but was surpassed by the Egyp<an lineage. In addi<on, we discovered the mitochondrial lineage of the Central and south Asian wildcat in remains from a Roman port in Egypt. This port 1:Na<onal Research Center CNRS, Jacques Monod Ins<tute, University Paris Diderot, 15 rue Helene Brion, 75013 Paris, France

How cats conquered the Ancient world: a 9,000-years DNA tale