An ancient DNA study by Dr Yu Han et al., published in Cell Genomics on November 27, 2025, reveals that domestic cats arrived in China relatively late—likely introduced by Silk Road merchants around 1,400 years ago—after more than 3,500 years of human–leopard cat commensalism.
This study is based on the research conducted by Yu Han during their DPhil Archaeological Science here at the School, completing in 2023.
In the BBC - Cats became our companions way later than you think
