Ancient Egypt had far more venomous snakes than the country today, according to our new study of a scroll

• Our latest research, based on the venomous snakes described in an ancient Egyptian papyrus, suggests more than you might think.
• The venomous snakes described in the Brooklyn Papyrus are diverse: 37 species are listed, of which the descriptions for 13 have been lost.
• This has led to much speculation among researchers as to which species are being described.

The four-fanged snake

• For the great snake of Apophis, no reasonable contender currently lives within ancient Egypt’s borders.
• Could the snake of Apophis be an early, detailed description of a boomslang?
• And if so, how did the ancient Egyptians encounter a snake that now lives so far south of their borders?

On the trail of ancient snakes

• Our study shows the much more humid climates of early ancient Egypt would have supported many snakes that don’t live there today.
• These include some of Africa’s most notorious venomous snakes such as the black mamba, puff adder and boomslang.
• We found that nine of our ten species could probably once have lived in ancient Egypt.
• Modelling modern species’ ancient ranges can teach us a lot about how our ancestors’ ecosystems changed as a result of environmental change.