>
> Jeff,
>
> > Prior to the domestication of the cat, the ferret was the pet of choice
> for keeping
> > down the vermin but this went out of vogue sometime in the Bronze Age as
> cats
> > don't smell as badly as ferrets and are generally more readily house
> trained.
>
> That may have been so in northern Europe (domestic cats in Britain seem to
> have arrived just before the Romans) but there's evidence from a burial on
> Cyprus of domesticated cats 9500 years ago.
>
> Regards,
> Martin
>
Interesting point. I seem to recall though, that the cat didn't make it into Greco-Roman area till the 10th century BCE but then were spread throughout Europe by the Roman Empire (and its trading patterns).
However, as an aside it is currently thought that they were first domesticated in Mesopotamia based on genetic markers. Mesopotamia, is, of course, Dara Happa Lite. I do like some implications that long-hair domestic cats were tamed (as such) by the Norse to use as foot warmers and rodent catchers albeit considerably later in time than their warmer-climate cousins.