A well-preserved domestic cat skeleton was found in an ancient tomb of the Six Dynasties Period (about 1,700 years ago) in Puzhuang River site, Zigui, at the Three Gorges region, and this is the first time to find a house cat immolated with the dead.
Skeletons of a dog, a hog, a goat, a buffalo and a muntjak were found in the tomb, too.
This is the second time for archaeologists to find the remains of house cats in China. Though history texts suggest that ancient Chinese started to domesticate cats more than 2,000 years ago, archaeological proofs were rare. This cat skeleton will provide very precious information on the their domestication, and burial customs of ancient Chinese in the Three Gorges region.
(Chinanews.cn August 22, 2006)
