tech
noviembre 28, 2025
El gato doméstico llegó a Europa miles de años más tarde de lo que se pensaba
Un nuevo estudio genético revela que el gato doméstico llegó a Europa hace apenas 2.000 años desde el norte de África, principalmente a través del Imperio romano, contradiciendo la creencia de que acompañaba a los europeos desde el Neolítico
TL;DR
- Domestic cats arrived in Europe about 2,000 years ago from North Africa, primarily through the Roman Empire.
- This contradicts the previous belief that cats arrived with Neolithic farmers from the Near East.
- The study analyzed nuclear DNA from 70 cats from European and Anatolian sites and 17 modern wildcats from Europe and North Africa.
- Two main waves of African wildcat arrival in Europe were identified: one in Sardinia during the first millennium BC and a decisive one during the Roman era.
- Roman expansion spread domestic cats along their routes throughout the Mediterranean, Central Europe, and Britain starting in the 1st century BC.
- Genetic hybridization between domestic and wild lineages was limited in Roman times but intensified during the Middle Ages.
- Previous theories were supported by findings like a 7500 BC human-cat burial in Cyprus and later Egyptian art and animal burials suggesting early domestication in the Near East and Egypt.