Entire snake found in a 1,500-year-old human POO!
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Image of the snake fang recovered from a 1,500-year-old fossilised poo
This might be the weirdest poo story you've ever heard...
Archaeologists have discovered a 1,500-year-old prehistoric poo which contains the remains of an ENTIRE snake skeleton.
The bones, scales and fang of a snake were recovered from the fossilised poo.
The researchers believe that a person ate the venomous snake potentially as part of an ancient ritual or ceremony.
Here's the fossilised poo before it was analysed
Archaeologist Elanor Sonderman found an intact fang of a rattlesnake in a coprolite in Texas, US. A coprolite is the name for a fossilised poo.
Studying fossilised poo provides a lot of information about the health of the person who did it and can indicate the types of food ancient people ate.
Sondermon studied the scales and believes the snake was eaten without being cooked because there weren't any char marks.
And the sheer number of scales suggests the animal was eaten whole!
The snake was most likely a poisonous Western diamondback rattlesnake or copperhead, both of which are common in the Lower Pecos region in Texas
Map showing the location of Conejo Shelter and Hinds Cave. The poo fossil was found in the Conejo Shelter in Texas, US
Snakes hold important symbolic status in many world cultures and are included as a feature of ancient ceremonies and rituals.
After studying the history of the cultures from the area, Sonderman believes the snake was eaten for "a distinctly ceremonial or ritualistic purpose," but can't be totally certain.
This finding is very unique. So perhaps this was a one-off snake snack, or a peculiar dare, or even a daredevil with a dangerous diet!
Analysis of this REALLY old poo also revealed that the person ate flowers and what appeared to be a small rodent without skinning or cooking!
Quite a different diet to the one you're used to!
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