Dr. Faith Burden

Faith Burden, and she, her.

Yes, indeed.

Yeah, so the donkey's ancestor is actually from East Africa.

So the mountains and deserts of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan.

So a long, long way away from the UK or the US.

So donkeys were first domesticated about 7,000 years ago, we think, in East Africa.

And they then slowly made their way up

to Egypt, where they were a really important part of Egyptian ancient society.

And from there, they gradually spread across the world, particularly helped both by the Romans, but also various explorers.

So donkeys made their way to the Americas in about

the 15th century.

So actually their history with us is quite recent, but it all began in the deserts and mountains of East Africa.

In ancient Egypt, donkeys were originally used for meat and milk.

And then they started to become a working animal, but very much a well-respected ceremonial animal.

So you actually can find a number of donkey skeletons that were buried along very high-ranking noble people.

Wow.

So it was a real surprise when they opened up a tomb not long ago that was dedicated, I believe, to Osiris.

And in one of the king's tombs next door were donkey skeletons.

So in Egypt, the donkey was very much associated with wealth and nobility and was a really respected and revered animal.

Yeah.