origin of domestic cat

[ed34]

Does anyone know where the first cats were domesticated? I have read that egyptians used to use domestic cats to guard their grain storage areas from rodents and anyone caught harming these animals would have the death sentence imposed on them. They even mummified dead cats and treated them as gods/goddesses.
However, from all the varieties today, I assume there must have been more than one origin?

[ed34]

I have read that some cats ( i think its the tabby) originated from africa, probably from the big cats. To get the cats so much smaller I assume they must have cross bred them with a different variety?

Big cats, hmmm, a long ambition of mine is to get in a cage with some. Armed with a flamethrower of course. Cheetahs are my favourite, they look kinda rough and ready lol.

[Thomas Dock, CVJ, Vet. Technician]

Swampcritter hit the nail on the head.   There is evidence of cats being buried with people from about 8-10K years ago.  So, it is assumed that they had been domesticated by 10,000 years ago.  

I address this very question at my internet radio show on PetLifeRadio.  Look for the Cattitude channel.

[swampcritter]

The first archeological evidence for domestication is during the neolithic period (about 10,000 years ago). This was the same period that humans started to build walled cities, and is close to the invention of pottery.

Genetically, all housecats come from the Middle East. The RNA sequence suggests a divergence about 100,000 years ago, but chances are that is the beginning of speciation, not when cats move in with people.