It has long been suspected that the relationship between humans and cats dated back to the golden age of Egypt (4,000 – 5,500 years ago).  A recent discovery changes that assumption and likely indicates that humans had domesticated cats for pets as far back as 9,500 years ago.  You can read the details of this fascinating new discovery at ABCNews.com.

The most obvious and entertaining statement in the entire article, of course, is when Nicholas Nicastro, studying human interaction with cats at Cornell University, said, "I think cats have evolved to become better at managing and manipulating people."  Well duh!