From: mdhangton@gmail.com   
      
   Will in New Haven wrote:   
   > On Friday, June 19, 2015 at 3:29:41 PM UTC-4, William Vetter wrote:   
   >> John W Kennedy wrote:   
   >>> Felis sylvestris lybica, the   
   >>> African wildcat (with a range extending into the near east and southern   
   >>> Europe) is the immediate ancestor of the domestic cat.   
   >>   
   >> That is it's range now.  What's relevant is the range several thousand   
   >> years ago.  The range of the kittycat is very much different now than   
   >> it was 2000 years ago, and that of F. Sylvestris is vanishing.   
   >>   
   >> Herodotus said that Libya was a forest 2500 years ago.  He's less   
   >> spotted now than he was then.  (I think it was Herodotus, or maybe   
   >> Diodorus Siculus.)  That's where F. Lybica emerged from to inhabit the   
   >> granaries and temples.   
   >   
   > Wrong   
   >   
   > http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070628-cat-ancestor.html   
      
   I have never read this paper (Science (2007) _317_, 519).  Thank you   
   for bringing it to my attention.   
      
   This archeological specimen (Science (2004) _304_, 259), is F.   
   Silvestris:   
      
   http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4867-ancient-remains-could   
   be-oldest-pet-cat.html   
      
   Remember that "domesticated," "culturally significant," and "pet" can   
   mean different things.  I still maintain that, while their are feline   
   heads on ceremonial vessels, pictures of cats crouching under chairs   
   and wildcat-sized felines being baited to fight other animals, on   
   coins, pottery and papyrii that are ca. 300 to 3000BC from various   
   ancient civilizations; there is no representation of a fully   
   domesticated cat being held in a person's arms like a modern kittycat   
   until near the end of Republican Rome.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)