This time we go back a few years earlier than Aristotle in describing the
history of the ferret.  Most people are aware of Romer's work (1966;
Vertebrate Paleontology), in which mustelids were thought to be closely
related to canids (dogs), ursids (bears), and procyonids (racoons).  That
situation has been revised in recent years, and most authorities now place
the origin of the mustelids somewhere near the beginning of the Eocene
(58-37 Million Years Ago [MYA]) when four main groups broke off the
ancestral stock.  One group formed the ursids, procyonids, canids, odobenids
(walrus-like), and otariids (sea lion-like).  Another group formed the
felids (cats), viverrids (mongoose-like), and hyaenids (hyaenas).  A third
group formed the mustelids.  A possible fourth group formed the
amphicyonids, now extinct.
 
Sometime in the early Miocene (24-5 MYA), a portion of the Mustelidae,
thought to be closely related to otters, split off and formed the phocids
(hair seals).  Thus, current research now supports the idea that the closest
cousins to the mustelids are seals.  The fossil record is too vague to
support the idea that the "cat" group is more or less related than the "dog"
group.  Some genetic work suggests the "cat" group is more closely related.
 
From this point things get interesting.  The ferret evolved (according to
Darwin, domestication is a form of selection) from some type of an ancestral
polecat, which many consider to be the common or European polecat, Mustela
putorius.  Other closely related forms include various weasels, American
mink, the extinct sea mink, the steppe polecat, and the black footed ferret,
all loosely grouped together in the subgenus Vison.  Hall (1951) argues the
subgenus Vison split from the main mustelid group during the Late Pliocene
(5-2 MYA).  Anderson (1977) claims all extant (living) ferrets are derived
from the European Mustela stromeri, dating to the Middle Pleistocene (2
MYA-recent), or about a million years ago.
 
Think about this; whatever differences exist in the subgenus Vison have
occurred in the last 1 MY.  From experience, I can tell you that telling the
postcranial bones apart is very difficult, at times the skulls seem to merge
into each other.  American mink skulls can be easily confused with those of
the steppe polecat, the steppe polecat are VERY hard to tell from the black
footed ferret, and so forth.  If the domestic ferret has been domesticated
for only the last 2000 years, think of how difficult it would be to
distinguish it's skull from that of its ancestral stock.
 
Add to this the problem of destruction of evidence.  One of the more obvious
problems is that the modern distribution of these animals are for the most
part where glaciers used to sit.  As these glaciers grew or shrank, they
moved back and forth over the places were the bones would be.  When the
glaciers were gone, forests grew, turning the soil acidic, and acids disolve
bone.  So the early evidence is fragmentary (pun intended).
 
As for the time of domestication, the destruction of evidence can be as bad,
or worse.  Did you know that most of the bones found from domesticated
species tend to be old or young, but few middle aged?  Thats because you
tend to eat the young and old ones; the young being surplus or unsuitable,
and the old being "retired." What do you think happened to those working
ferrets when they could no longer breed or chase rabbits from holes?  If
they didn't go in the stew pot, they certainly fed the doggies.  So the
skulls and other distinguishable portions of the skeleton are consumed.  So
is it domestic or what?  Who knows.
 
So the timeline for domestication is unclear.  It is certainly before any
recorded account; they are describing a domesticated animal.  Our best
supported guess is probably short by 500 to 1000 years.  As for where; any
guess is clearly conjecture if archaeological remains cannot be identified.
Some reported places of origin include Lybia, Egypt, the Lebanon-Turkey
area, germanic Europe, Asia, and Rome.  All are guesses based on early
writers, which in itself is tricky (think of translating a dead language; I
can't even speak correctly in English), but better than trying to identify
an animal from an ancient drawing.  Is it a ferret, is it a polecat, or a
weasel or an otter?  Was it native, or was it imported?
 
IMHO, I think they were domesticated in Eurasia, and they have yet to be
found or recognized (I have this vision of a box of domesticated ferret
skulls and bones lying in a former-USSR warehouse, never cataloged.  For
that matter, they could be in a US museum, never cataloged).  Western
archaeologists tend to overlook the contributions of Eastern Block nations,
as well as the achievements of non-western cultures.  I think they were
traded in, because the earliest descriptions seem to correspond to the
beginnings of early trade routes and stuff.  Hey, its as good a guess as
any.
 
Oh yeah, before I bore you with any more *gasp* science, I will relate a
story to make up for my linguists gaff.  Look for it in a day or two, which
translates as "RUN FER YER LIVES!"
 
Bob and the Magnificent 13
 
Know why the femur hates the patella? Because it got the SHAFT.
[Posted in FML issue 1412]