For a long time, we thought that domestic cats had conquered Europe since the Middle East, almost 10,000 years ago. But a new Italian study upsets this theory: our feline friends have arrived in Europe since … Tunisia, only two thousand years ago.
It was the researchers Marco of Martino and Claudio Ottoni (University of Rome Tor Vergata), in collaboration with the British University of Exeter, who lifted the veil on this feline migration. Thanks to cutting-edge genetic analyzes and radiocarbon dating, they identified two arrival waves: the first around the 1st century AD, at the time of the Roman Empire, the second several centuries later.
The Roman commercial roads would have served as bridges for North African felines, undoubtedly embarked despite themselves to European ports. A hypothesis reinforced by bones found on more than 200 sites, from England to Sardinia.
Tasty detail: In Sardinia, cats would even have posed legs as early as the 2nd century before the study confirms above all that Tunisia was a real home of origin for these animals, who became faithful companions of man.
Ironically, this Mediterranean crossing recalls other contemporary flows – much more dramatic – between the two banks. Except that here, no cats needed a smuggler to land in Italy.
