What is the earliest known example of a domestic cat in history?
Cyprus cat
{'answer_start': array([72]), 'answer_text': array(['Near Eastern wildcat'], dtype=object)}
A paper by J.-D. Vigne, et al., concluded in 2004 that the discovery of Near Eastern wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica) remains in a 9,500-year-old grave in Cyprus is the oldest example to date of a cat in close association with humans. Archaeologists led by Jean Guillain working at the Neolithic site of Shillourokambos uncovered carefully interred remains of a cat alongside human remains and decorative artifacts, on an island separated from the mainland since before human habitation, thus indicating human introduction of cats to the area. "Examination showed that a small pit or grave had been deliberately dug out, and the body of the cat was placed in it, then rapidly covered." The cat skeleton pre-dates Egyptian depictions of cats by 4,000 years or more.[1][2]  There is no evidence that modern cats of any variety are descended from ancient Cypriot wildcats; nevertheless both WCF[3] and TICA[4] have uncritically repeated breeder claims of such descent.