The finding reveals the earliest pet cats resembled this wildcat.

Man’s affection for moggies is five millenniums older than was thought, according to a 9500-year-old grave containing what may be the oldest known domesticated cat.

French researchers in Cyprus have dug up the cat and it’s possible owner in Shillourokambos, a Neolithic village inhabited between 8300 and 7000 BC. This is far older than previous known dates for domesticated cats.

The ancient Egyptians are known to have honored them as pets in 2000BC, although researchers suspected wildcats were being tamed far earlier. Dogs were domesticated more than 12,000 years ago.

The Cyprus grave contained offerings, including tools and jewellery, wrote the researchers in the journal Science. The human skeleton, of a person aged about 30, had a damaged pelvis, making its sex hard to distinguish. The rich offerings suggested high social status.

Beside the human grave were two pits, one containing 24 seashells, the other the cat. This “strengthens the idea of a special burial indicating a strong relationship between cats and human being’s, said the study’s lead author, Jean-Denis Vigne, of the CNRS-Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

The cat belonged to the wildcat species Felis Silvestris, which is larger than modern cats. It may have been killed in order to be buried with its owner.

“This is about as solid evidence as one can have that cats held a special place in lives and afterlives of residents of this site,” said American zoo archaeologist Melinda Zeder, who was not involved in the research.

Dr. Vigne said wildcats began associating with humans with theise of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, adding: “ Grain stocks attracted numerous mice. I think that human beings rapidly understood that they couls use cats for reducing the number of mice.”

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