India, Nov. 29 -- A new genetic analysis has dramatically altered our understanding of the domestic cat's journey. Science published a new research using nuclear DNA evidence that says modern house cats (Felis catus) descended from wildcats native to North Africa and not the Near East, as previously believed.

Researchers discovered that the earliest evidence of true domestic cats in Europe dates only about 2,000 years ago, during the Roman Empire, rather than alongside Neolithic farmers 6,000-7,000 years ago, after sequencing the genomes of 70 ancient cats from 97 archaeological sites spanning 10,000 years across Europe, Africa, and Anatolia.

Researches were conducted on the dominant theory that held that cats were domesticated around 9...