Fossils help us understand how biodiversity has changed; they provide evidence that life in the past was very different from life today and help us understand how organisms are related. Most organisms that lived in the past are now extinct but their relatives are still alive. Recognizing changes in past biodiversity can give us clues about how biodiversity is changing today.
Fossils are found all over Egypt. Dinosaurs have certainly been found in the Western Desert, and other fossils surface in such places as Lake Moeris north of Wadi Natrun. But traditionally, the most important site for ancient fossils in Egypt is the Fayoum, which modern scholars have called "the best known Paleogene site in Africa".
For eons the Tethys Sea reached far south of the existing Mediterranean. It gradually retreated north depositing thick layers of sediments which became sandstone, limestone and shale, seen at Wadi Al-Hitan.
This graphic shows the location of the Tethys Sea during the Eocene time period. (Source: Reef Education Network)
In Wadi Al-Hitan in an area over 10 kilometres long there has been found an unusually large concentration of over 400 fossil skeletons of archaic whales and other vertebrates, extensively displayed on the desert floor and in cliffs.
Today, Wadi Hitan has been turned into a protected area administered by the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and is being developed as a national park by the Italian-Egyptian cooperative program. The valley has also been added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2005 for its unique natural beauty and scientific significance; an important step towards its preservation. |
