00:04ancient egypt is known for its great pharaohs and even greater pyramids but now researchers
00:09are beginning to say it should also be known for its venomous snakes one of the oldest human
00:14documents ever discovered dates back more than 2500 years and experts believe it's actually a
00:19copy of a much older record so what does it say well it's now called the snake bite papyrus and
00:25it lists not only the different types of snakes from the period and the area but also outlines
00:29what happens when one is bitten and how to treat it it even outlines a rare type of snake one
00:33with
00:34four fangs experts say no such snake lives in or near egypt today with the one that fits the
00:39description most closely calling sub-saharan africa savannas it's home so where did all the egyptian
00:44snakes go well experts say that changing climate no doubt drove them elsewhere egypt used to be much
00:49more humid than it is today meaning many more snake varieties likely could have inhabited the area
00:54with the researchers finding that of the 10 snakes they chose from the snake bite papyrus
00:58including the venomous black mamba and the puff adder nine of those would have been able to live in
01:02ancient egypt's more humid climate with experts saying that despite egypt having begun its desertification
01:08some 4200 years ago larger populations and agricultural irrigation may have kept the area
01:13more hospitable to venomous snakes for longer
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