excellent article - cats in the ancient world

In 1983 the archaeologist Alain Le Brun found a cat skeleton in a grave dating to 9,500 BCE.  The thing is - he wasn't in Egypt.  He was on the island of Cyprus, which had no indigenous cat population.  That cat was brought on purpose, and therefore predates the knowledge of domesticated cats in Egypt by quite a margin.
This and more fascinating facts are to be found in this article from the Ancient History Encyclopedia.  Enjoy!