China used cats to control rats 5,300 years ago  

考古研究表明：中国人5300年前就用猫控制鼠害

陕西省考古研究院研究员胡松梅23日向中新社记者透露，该院的考古发掘表明，5300多年前的陕西华县，就有帮助人类捕捉偷粮老鼠的猫活跃其间，这是迄今发现的猫与人具有共生关系的最早证据。但并不能证明此为家养的猫。 [查看全文]

Xi'an (CNS) -- Archaeological research shows that cats were used by Chinese people to protect grain from rats some 5,300 years ago, suggesting the earliest evidence of a close relationship between cats and human beings.

Researchers from the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology conducted studies over many years after it found eight cat bones in the Quanhu village ruins, a prehistoric site in Huaxian county, Shaanxi province, in 1995, shedding some light on the cat's ancient role, said researcher Hu Songmei.

But that didn't mean the feline animal was domestic, he said.

Using analyses of carbon and nitrogen traces in the bones of human and domesticated animals unearthed near Quanhu village, researchers found that millet was the major staple food for humans, domestic dogs and pigs, and rats, according to Hu.

Analyses show that cats were preying on rats that lived on farmed millet, Hu added.

Other clues gathered from the Quanhu village food web suggest that the relationship between cats and humans had begun to grow closer, since one cat ate fewer animals and more millet than other cats. Researchers thus inferred that it lived on human food or was fed.

Cats were once thought to have first been domesticated in ancient Egypt, where they were kept some 4,000 years ago.