This article was produced by National Geographic Traveler (UK).
Ancient Egyptian history is brought to life by thousands of people, from Tutankhamun’s gilded death mask to the enigmatic Sphinx of the pyramids. But as you drive 100 miles southwest of Cairo into the vast sandy landscape of the Western Desert, it’s possible to see the clock turn back even further – to a time when Egypt was populated not by kings but by monsters.
Here, at the end of a long, dirt road, lies Wadi al-Hitan, a 75-square-kilometer UNESCO World Heritage Site that is said to hold the key to one of evolution’s greatest mysteries.
You wouldn’t think that when you look at it. There is no life in this sandy valley: no houses, no trees, no water – just mile after mile of desert stretching in every direction, as endless and golden as all the Pharaohs’ wealth combined. After the noise of Cairo, the silence is deep.
Although travelers flock to see the riches of ancient Egypt in the Valley of the Kings, Wadi al-Hitan remains a largely hidden treasure. Yet this remote place tells a powerful story about life on Earth, buried beneath the literal sands of time and now brought to the surface by wind erosion and the painstaking work of paleontologists.
Fossil fans visit the valley mainly on day trips from Cairo. What they find among the sand are rocks that have been sculpted into alien shapes over millennia. Spherical pavilions, squat roundabouts and giant mushrooms dot the landscape, pockmarked by the relentless wind. Between them runs a dirt path, distinguishable from the rest of the desert only by the neatly arranged stones along the edges and the overlapping footprints of visitors.
This is one of the most arid environments on Earth and yet, as hikers crunch gently uphill among the eerie rock formations, there are signs of prehistoric life: smooth shells of mollusks could catch the light; coin-shaped fossils of ocean creatures called nummulites can be discovered; even shark teeth can be found here.
They’re confusing things you might find in a desert 100 miles from the coast, but 40 million years ago the shape of the continents was very different and much of what is now North Africa was under a shallow ocean called the Tethys.
There are also bigger clues to this enigmatic past: bone fragments scattered like puzzle pieces, vertebrae the size of concrete blocks. But what is most dramatic and surprising is the well-preserved skeleton of a huge predator lying on the sand at the end of the path, with a spine the length of a cricket field, its ribs spread to either side like tree stumps twisted by a twist. are overthrown. bowler.
“When scientists first discovered this creature, they thought it was a giant marine reptile,” said Hesham Sallam, chief paleontologist at Wadi al-Hitan. “So they named it Basilosaurus, which means ‘king lizard.’ Only later did they realize it was actually an old whale.”
Paleontologists have been discovering prehistoric whales here for more than a century. Approximately 1,000 individuals have been identified, making this the largest whale cemetery in the world, and one of the most important paleontological sites. That’s why, in a nod to Egypt’s more famous cemetery – the Valley of the Kings – they named it Wadi al-Hitan, the Valley of the Whales.
There are about a dozen whale skeletons that visitors can tour through the sand, all identified as prehistoric Basilosaurus or Dorudon. They have been dated to between 37 and 40 million years old, meaning they lived during the late Eocene. Their remains have been laid out as an open-air exhibition and are connected by paths that visitors can follow around each building.
The bones are fascinating to discover, but they are also crucial to understanding one of the most bizarre evolution stories – and the key to that can be found in the small, underground museum of Wadi al-Hitan.
Here, next to several foot-long Basilosaurus skulls with fearsome teeth, is the monster’s most amazing (and strangely comical) feature: a pair of tiny hind legs, complete with femurs, shin bones, ankles, and matchstick feet.
“When you think about it, it’s bizarre that whales are air-breathing mammals, but they live in the ocean,” Sallam explains. “Scientists hypothesized that they must have originated on land, but later entered the water and evolved into the giants we know today, losing their legs in the process. But for decades they had no evidence.”
These leg bones, discovered in 1989, are a crucial link in that transformation. They are tiny, no bigger than a human arm, and strapped to this six-ton whale they would have been useless for walking. But they are clear evidence that whales once lived on land and gave up their land lifestyle to return to the ocean.
“It’s as if you can see evolution with your naked eye and touch it with your hand,” says Sallam. “You have to be careful where you walk because there are fossils everywhere and you never know what new discovery is under your feet.”
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