Research on feline DNA clarifies our ancient relationship with cats. Some experts consider cats only “semi-domesticated” since they look and behave so much like their wild relatives. Cat DNA from archaeological sites across Europe, the Middle East and Africa shows cats lived with humans between 300 and 15,000 years ago. Population dispersal occurred with advances in agriculture and seafaring travel.
Source: Treehugger, June 19, 2023. Link.
Also see: Cats may have been domesticated twice, Smithsonian, January 29, 2016. Link. Aside from a breed called the Bengal cat, which was created in the 1960s by intentionally breeding leopard cats with house cats, two cat species identified by archeologists have never commingled having been domesticated in separate geographies.