ASIA, MYANMAR, WORLD

Dwarfs under dinosaur legs: 99-million-year-old millipede discovered in Burmese amber

99-Million-Year-Old Millipede Trapped In Amber Discovered In Myanmar

The analysis of an amber-trapped, 99 million-year-old fossilized millipede is bringing scientists to utterly rethink the evolution of the entire millipede species.

Researchers found that the perfectly preserved 8.2 mm specimen found in Burma was an entirely new species, according to a study published in the journal ZooKeys, due to its peculiar morphology that differed greatly from existing millipede classifications.

Professor Pavel Stoev at the Bulgarian National Natural History Museum told us in a statement that “We were very surprised that this animal can not be placed into the present Millipede classification.

Dwarfs under dinosaur legs: 99-million-year-old millipede discovered in Burmese amber
The 8.5-millimeter millipede had five-unit compound eyes and an unusually hairless rear end

“Even though their general appearance has remained unchanged in the last 100 million years, as our planet underwent dramatic changes several times in this period, some morphological traits in Callipodida lineage have evolved significantly.”

As a result of this exciting find, Stoev together with his colleagues Dr. Thomas Wesener and Leif Moritz of the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig in Germany had to revise the current millipede classification and introduce a new suborder for the specimen. There have only been a handful of millipede suborders described in the last five decades.

To get a more accurate look at the fossilized millipede’s morphology, researchers used 3D X-ray microscopy to construct a virtual model of the ancient millipede, including its internal features.

The examination showed that the 99 million-year-old millipede was, in fact, significantly different from other early millipede species. The researchers named the new species Burmanopetalum inexpectatum, with the latter word meaning “unexpected” in Latin.

Among the Burmanopetalum inexpectatum’s unique traits are its eye, which is composed of five optical units where other millipede orders usually have but two or three.

Another fascinating trait of the newly discovered millipede is its smooth hypoproct, which is the spot located in between the anal opening and the genitalia of an insect.

By comparison, its younger brethren usually have hypopcrocts that are covered in bristles. These highly unusual traits have given scientists a completely new perspective regarding how its kind evolved.

The researchers used micro-CT scans to create a 3-D model of the ancient millipede

Not to be confused with centipedes, millipedes belong to the Diplopoda class which is Latin for “double foot.” The name refers to the two pairs of legs that these critters have on each of their body segments in addition to its many tiny legs. By comparison, centipedes have only one pair of legs per body segment.

Also unlike centipedes, millipedes are not active predators and they survive on a diet of decaying plant matter. When threatened, millipedes will secrete poisonous chemicals to deter animals that may want to hurt or eat them.

Scientists estimate that there are 80,000 species of millipedes, yet only a fraction have been discovered and studied.

This ancient insect’s peculiar characteristics are not the only thing that sets it apart, however. The fact that it was discovered in Myanmar is also significant because scientists have never discovered a Callipodidan in Myanmar before, which means that this order of insects must have existed in the Southeast Asian region as well.

The Burmese amber that the millipede had been trapped in was part of a private collection of animals that belonged to Patrick Müller.

This collection included 400 amber stones that the scientists had been granted access to, and is the largest collection of its kind in Europe and the third-largest in the world.

Much of the collection is now deposited at the Museum Koenig in Bonn, Germany, where other researchers from around the world may gain access to study the collection, too.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

8,500 Years Older Than the Pyramids; This is the Oldest Temple Ever Built on Earth

8,500 Years Older Than the Pyramids; This is the Oldest Temple Ever Built on Earth 

Göbekli Tepe is a center of faith and pilgrimage during the Neolithic Age and is situated 15 km from the Turkish town of Sanlıurfa and added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018.

The monumental structures, which stand as testaments to the artistic abilities of our ancestors, also offer insights into the life and beliefs of people living in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (10th-9th millennia BC).

It was not the grandeur of the archeological wonder that dominated my mind, when I stood beneath a 4,000-square-foot steel roof erected to protect the oldest temple in the world in Upper Mesopotamia.

It was how humans of the pre-pottery age when simple hand tools were yet to be discovered, erected the cathedral on the highest point of a mountain range. 

Known as “zero points” in the history of human civilization, southeast Turkey’s Göbekli Tepe pre-dates the pyramids by 8,000 years, and the Stonehenge by six millennia. Its discovery revolutionized the way archaeologists think about the origins of human civilization.

“The men, who built the temple 11,200 years ago, belonged to the Neolithic period,” Sehzat Kaya, a professional tourist guide, tells me, “They were hunter-gatherers, surviving on plants and wild animals. It was a world without pottery, writing, the wheel, and even the most primitive tools. In such a scenario, it’s incredible how the builders were able to transport stones weighing tonnes from a quarry kilometers away, and how they managed to cut, carve and shape these stones into round-oval and rectangular megalithic structures.”

Located fifteen kilometers away from the Turkish city of Sanlıurfa, Göbekli Tepe, which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018, is believed to be a center of faith and pilgrimage during the Neolithic Age. Since the site is older than human transition to settled life, it upends conventional views, proving the existence of religious beliefs prior to the establishment of the first cities. It altered human history with archaeologists believing that the site was a temple used to perform funerary rituals.

Klaus Schmidt, a German archaeologist and pre-historian, who led the excavations at the site from 1996, noted in a 2011 paper that no residential buildings were discovered at the site, even as at least two phases of religious architecture were uncovered. Schmidt discarded the possibility that the site was a mundane settlement of the period, and insisted that it belonged to “a religious sphere, a sacred area.”

“Göbekli Tepe seems to have been a regional center where communities met to engage in complex rites,” Schmidt, who led the excavations until he passed away in 2014, wrote, “The people must have had a highly complicated mythology, including a capacity for abstraction.”

In speaking of abstraction, Schmidt was referring to the highly-stylized T-shaped pillars at Göbekli Tepe, which means “belly hill” in Turkish. The distinctive limestone pillars are carved with stylized arms, hands, and items of clothing like belts and loincloths.

The largest pillars weigh more than 16 tons, and some are as tall as 5.5 meters. Schmidt believed that there was an overwhelming probability that the T-shape is the first-known monumental depiction of gods. Some researchers have also revealed that the site might be home to a “skull cult”.

The unique semi-subterranean pillars carry three-dimensional depictions – elaborate carvings of abstract symbols as well as animals: Scorpions, foxes, gazelles, snakes, wild boars, and wild ducks.

The unique semi-subterranean pillars carry three-dimensional depictions – elaborate carvings of abstract symbols as well as animals: Scorpions, foxes, gazelles, snakes, wild boars, and wild ducks. The monumental structures, which stand as testaments to the artistic abilities of our ancestors, also offer insights into the life and beliefs of people living in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (10th-9th millennia BC).

“Göbekli Tepe is an outstanding example of a monumental ensemble of megalithic structures, illustrating a significant period of human history,” UNESCO noted in 2018, “It is one of the first manifestations of human-made monumental architecture.

The monolithic T-shaped pillars were carved from the adjacent limestone plateau, and attest to new levels of architectural and engineering technology. They are believed to bear witness to the presence of specialized craftsmen, and possibly the emergence of more hierarchical forms of human society.”

Perched at 1000 feet above the ground, Göbekli Tepe offers a view of the horizon in nearly every direction. The site was first examined in the 1960s by anthropologists from the University of Chicago and Istanbul University. Dismissed as an abandoned medieval cemetery in 1963, the first excavation started in 1996 when Schmidt read a brief mention of the broken limestone slabs on the hilltop in the previous researchers’ report. His findings changed long-standing assumptions.

“It (Göbekli Tepe) is the complex story of the earliest large, settled communities, their extensive networking, and their communal understanding of their world, perhaps even the first organized religions and their symbolic representations of the cosmos,” Schmidt wrote.

Schmidt’s discoveries received wide international coverage. The German weekly, Der Spiegel, went a step ahead, suggesting that Adam and Eve settled at Göbekli Tepe after being banished from the Garden of Eden.

The journal based its suggestion on the coincidence that the land surrounding Göbekli Tepe is proven to be the place where wheat was cultivated for the first time, and the Bible says that Adam was the first to cultivate the wheat after he was banished. Another noteworthy aspect of the discovery is that Göbekli Tepe has also questioned the conventional belief that agriculture led to civilization.

Until the discovery, it was widely believed that complex societies came into being after hunter-gatherers settled down, and started growing crops. But the early dates of the temple’s construction proved the opposite was true – the vast labour force required to build the temple pushed humans to develop agriculture to offer food to the workers.

“The communities that built the monumental megalithic structures of Göbekli Tepe lived during one of the most momentous transitions in human history, one which took the civilization from hunter-gatherer lifeways to the first farming communities,” the UNESCO notes, “The monumental buildings at Göbekli Tepe demonstrate the creative human genius of these early (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) societies.”

Aydin Aslan, Culture and Tourism Director, Sanliurfa tells me that the site hosts over 20,000 visitors every week. The megalithic structures have largely retained their original form, offering unforeseen insights into the life of early humans. “The current site is only one-tenth of the marvels that lie hidden under the hill,” says Aslan.

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

9,900-year-old Mexican female skeleton distinct from other early Native American settlers

9,900-year-old Mexican female skeleton distinct from other early Native American settlers

According to a research published at PLOS ONE on the 5th February 2020 by Wolfgang Stinnesbeck of the University of Heidelberg, the new skeleton discovered in the submerged caves of Tulum sheds light on the earliest settlers in Mexico.

9,900-year-old Mexican female skeleton distinct from other early Native American settlers
Underwater exploration of Chan Hol Cave, near Tulum, Mexico. Credit: Eugenio Acevez.

Humans have been living in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula since at least the Late Pleistocene (126,000-11,700 years ago).

We also discovered much of the earliest Mexican settlers from nine well-preserved human skeletons found in the submerged caves and sinkholes near Tulum in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Here, Stinnesbeck and colleagues describe a new, 30 percent-complete skeleton, ‘Chan Hol 3’, found in the Chan Hol underwater cave within the Tulum cave system.

The authors used a non-damaging dating method and took craniometric measurements, then compared her skull to 452 skulls from across North, Central, and South America as well as other skulls found in the Tulum caves.

The analysis showed Chan Hol 3 was likely a woman, approximately 30 years old at her time of death, and lived at least 9,900 years ago.

Her skull falls into a mesocephalic pattern (neither especially broad or narrow, with broad cheekbones and a flat forehead), like the three other skulls from the Tulum caves used for comparison; all Tulum cave skulls also had tooth caries, potentially indicating a higher-sugar diet.

This contrasts with most of the other known American crania in a similar age range, which tend to be long and narrow, and show worn teeth (suggesting hard foods in their diet) without cavities.

Though limited by the relative lack of archeological evidence for early settlers across the Americas, the authors suggest that these cranial patterns suggest the presence of at least two morphologically different human groups living separately in Mexico during this shift from the Pleistocene to the Holocene (our current epoch).

The authors add: “The Tulúm skeletons indicate that either more than one group of people reached the American continent first, or that there was enough time for a small group of early settlers who lived isolated on the Yucatán peninsula to develop a different skull morphology.

The early settlement history of America thus seems to be more complex and, moreover, to have occurred at an earlier time than previously assumed.”

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Hidden Drawing Beneath Leonardo Da Vinci’s Painting Virgin Of The Rocks And Unknown Handprints Discovered

Hidden Drawing Beneath Leonardo Da Vinci’s Painting Virgin Of The Rocks And Unknown Handprints Discovered

Scientists at the London National Gallery have utilized state-of-the-art methods to uncover a hidden drawing beneath Leonardo da Vinci’s The Virgin of the Rocks.

Leonardo da Vinci, Virgin of the Rocks, c. 1483, oil on wood.
The original Infant Christ and winged angel, mapped by scanning for zinc using MA-XRF

This reveals that after the original design was drawn up, the great artist and his assistants chose to take the biblical -themed painting in a completely different direction, to say the least.

First, know that there are two versions of The Virgin of the Rocks, one hanging in the Louvre and one in the National Gallery of London.

It’s thought that da Vinci first created the Louvre version by himself for a commission, but then sold it privately. Sometime later, he (and possibly his assistants) created a second copy, based on the first, in order to fulfill the original commission. That’s the version hanging in the National Gallery.

(By the way, to see why da Vinci might have set this typical Christian scene in such an unorthodox location, read this BBC essay. It provides further confirmation of how far ahead of his time he was, scientifically speaking.)

Using infrared techniques, National Gallery researchers discovered the draft of a different drawing beneath the visible paint in 2005. To see if there was more to it, another team re-scanned the painting using cutting-edge macro x-ray fluorescence techniques more recently.

Thanks to the presence of zinc in the original drawing material, it revealed much more detail from the original composition.

Hidden Drawing Beneath Leonardo Da Vinci’s Painting Virgin Of The Rocks And Unknown Handprints Discovered
Image: Left: Detail derived from mathematical processing of the hyperspectral imaging data, revealing the drawing for the angel and baby of the first composition under the landscape at the right side of the painting. Right: Tracing of the underdrawing lines in the hyperspectral image to give a clearer image of the angel and baby.

The first draft was significantly different from the final painting, with the figures positioned higher and looking in different directions.

The angel at right is looking down on the baby Christ and holding him more tightly, while the Virgin is looking toward the angel and Christ, rather than at the John the Baptist baby figure at left.

It’s not clear why da Vinci abandoned the original, arguably more dynamic composition. In any case, the under-drawing shows typical da Vinci “elaborations and adjustments” used when he transitioned from drawing to painting, according to curators.

“For instance, the angle of the Infant Christ’s head was changed so that he was seen in profile, while some parts of the angel’s curly hair have been removed,” the gallery wrote in a press release.

The research will form the basis of a new National Gallery exhibition entitled Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece kicking off on November 9th, 2019.

Visitors will see how the painting might have looked in the original chapel setting while exploring the new drawings and seeing how experts uncovered them.

We might never know what the great man was thinking, but we will get to enjoy what is essentially a completely new Leonardo da Vinci work.

A tracing of the lines relating to the underdrawing for the first composition, amalgamating the information from all the different technical images (superimposed over the visible painting).
A tracing of the lines relating to the underdrawing for the first composition, amalgamating the information from all the different technical images (superimposed over the visible painting).
ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Possible 18th-Century Sailor’s Skeleton Unearthed near buried porpoise in Guernsey-

Possible 18th-Century Sailor’s Skeleton Unearthed near buried porpoise in Guernsey

However, after closer inspections of his buttons, particularly the archeologists have pointed out that he will actually be a marine sailor from the Royal British Navy and that they think he died about 1760, the remains found in Chapelle Dom Hue at first it was thought to be those of a monk living in nearby Lihou.

Possible 18th-Century Sailor’s Skeleton Unearthed near buried porpoise in Guernsey
The poor condition of the skeleton is likely to be because of spending time in the sea and Guernsey’s acidic soil

Archeologist Dr. Phil de Jersey said that after a fascinating dig in 2017 and a further one in 2018 – which resulted in the find of a whole skeleton minus the hands, from the initial discovery of a tiny toe bone – it was good to finally find out more about the sailor’s story.

‘This is a young man probably in his teens or early 20s,’ he said.

‘He’s quite short, around 5ft 2in., and radio-carbon dating shows him to have died around 1760.

‘The buttons themselves gave us the best information from him, leather buttons that we could use for dating and we even found a button specialist to look at them.

‘They said it fits in with the date and the idea that he was a sailor from the Royal British Navy. It even looks like the design on them is an attempt at the Union Jack flag.

‘We had thought he might be a monk, but the dates are all wrong.’

Hypotheses have been made on how he died, including drowning after falling overboard from his ship and washing up on the west coast, where locals buried him where he was found.

The age of the remains was determined through radiocarbon dating and examining buttons found on its chest

He is missing his hands and there is a suggestion this could be down to them being the uncovered part of his body that fish would have eaten first, whereas the large hole in the skull could be the result of the remains being battered by the elements as they were washed up.

However, Dr de Jersey said the acidity of the soil in the islands could be another factor in the state of the remains, which have severely eroded.

He did, however, add that he still hoped to find out even more about the sailor.

‘We would look at re-burying him up at St Saviour’s,’ he said.

‘But it would be nice to keep him a bit longer and possibly get more information from his teeth, which can reveal more geographical data and more about his diet.

Phil de Jersey said analysis of the skeleton’s teeth could reveal his diet and possible place of origin

‘People are fascinating to dig up, as weird as it sounds, and that is because it is more personal than pottery or flint. These are real people, people that are lost to history that you can bring back to life.

‘We would love to find out even more about him.’

Also unearthed near the body was the remains of a porpoise believed to have been buried in the 15th century. This is what led to the find of the skeleton after a human toe bone was spotted exposed on a cliff edge about 10 meters away.

WORLD

800 Ancient Stones with Hebrew Writing in Puerto Rico Authenticated!

800 Ancient Stones with Hebrew Writing in Puerto Rico Authenticated!

The mysterious origins of a collection of mysterious statuettes from Puerto Rico, long ago believed to have been made by Jews from the “10 Lost Tribes” exiled from the land of Israel in ancient times, are now closer to being understood thanks to Israeli technology.

The objects were flown to Israel for analysis at the Use-Wear Analysis Laboratory of the University of Haifa’s Zinman Institute of Archeology, which specializes in revealing how various objects were made, what tools were used to make them, and the era of the techniques and tools used. Lab Director Iris Groman-Yaroslavsky confirmed that the objects were carved in the 16th century, and she discovered evidence that some of the objects were coated in gold and red paint.

“This is definitely one of the strangest and most fascinating stories I’ve been involved in,” Groman-Yaroslavsky said. “To date, we have not found any similar carved stone art objects from this region of America, and many researchers assumed that they must be fake. However, the microscopic tests we performed show beyond any doubt that the stones were carved around 600 years ago.”

The story of these objects, known as the Library of Agüeybaná, sounds like the plot of an Indiana Jones movie.

In the 19th century, a Puerto Rican monk by the name of José María Nazario presented a collection of some 800 carved stone statuettes. Some had a human form, while others appeared to be artistic or ritual items. Many were engraved with a previously unknown form of writing.

One of the statuettes in the mysterious Puerto Rican collection. Photo courtesy of University of Haifa

No similar statuettes or art objects have ever been found from this region of America, and the markings bore no resemblance to the writing systems developed by the Aztecs or Mayans.

Nazario claimed that an old woman had invited him to her mountain hut and told him of a treasure her family had been guarding for centuries. He said that she gave him detailed instructions to find the treasure.

Nazario followed her instructions and headed deep into the mountains, eventually reaching a pit covered by a large stone, just as the woman had told him. When he removed the stone, he found hundreds of statuettes. He thought these were objects made by members of the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel.

Evidence of traces of gold under the microscope
Evidence of traces of gold under the microscope

Over the years, different researchers raised various suggestions about the stones and the engravings they bear. Some suggested that while some of the stones are authentic, others were forged by local people in the 19th century when they saw the great interest the statuettes had created. Other scholars claimed that all the statuettes were forged by Nazario himself.

In 2001, a research student named Reniel Rodríguez Ramos saw the stones during a study trip and returned to investigate further after completing his doctorate in pre-Columbian cultures.

“I decided to study the stones from scratch – to come to a ‘clean slate’ without any assumptions about whether they are real or fake, and to let the findings talk,” explained Rodríguez, now a professor at the University of Puerto Rico. After a long search, Rodríguez came to Groman-Yaroslavsky. She confirmed that the stones were carved in antiquity.

“Under the microscope, we can see the erosion of the stones and the brown-gray patina that is typically found when items have been buried or exposed to the ravages of nature for extensive periods,” she said.

“The items are made from a mineral that was originally a greenish-black, but the erosion covers the engravings across the entire item, and there is no evidence of any modern manipulation that would have exposed the natural surface of the mineral,” she explains.

The analysis also revealed remnants of gold coating on some of the items. This reinforces the hypothesis that the items were used in ancient worship.

Remnants were also found of a red paint covering parts of the eyes and mouths in the figures, reflecting a complex process of design and finishing. Gold and ochre mines can be found in Puerto Rico, and there is extensive evidence regarding the use of these minerals in ritual contexts.

The association with ritual activity became even more apparent when the facial design details were examined. “The items were clearly struck with a solid object since we can see deliberate destruction around the nose and chin,” said the Israeli researcher.

Rodríguez is now continuing his quest by bringing the collection to an expert in the ancient writing systems of pre-Columbian America.

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

Mysterious 5,000-Year-Old Rock-Cut Tomb On Dark Enchanted Island Of Hoy, Scotland

Mysterious 5,000-Year-Old Rock-Cut Tomb On Dark Enchanted Island Of Hoy, Scotland

 An ancient and huge piece of red sandstone which called “Dwarfie Stane”. This 5,000-year-old block is surrounded by mystery, which has not been solved until today. There is no record who, in what manner and for what purpose or purposes, made this great job.

The curious stone lies in a steep-sided and remote valley between Quoys and Rackwick on the island of Hoy, in Orkney, Scotland and is believed to be Britain’s only example of a rock-cut tomb.

Between the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age, probably estimated 3,000 BC, it was thought to have been built. Similar tombs found in the Mediterranean region are the basis for this assessment.

What is so special with this gigantic slab? The “Dwarfie Stane” was once hollowed out by someone who had at his disposal rather simple tools, patience and enormous muscle power of his body.

The stone slab is about 8.5 meters (28 ft) long, by 4 meters (13 ft) wide and up to 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) high. An opening, a 1 meter (3.3 ft) square was cut out into the middle of the stone’s west face and leads into the inner chamber.

Inside the tomb is a passage 2.2 meters (7.2 ft) long and two rock-cut cells similar to bed-places and measuring 1.7 meters (5.6 ft) by 1 meter (3.3 ft). Both the passage and the side cells are 1 meter (3.3 ft) high.

Interestingly, both “bed-places”, which seem to be too short for anyone of normal stature, are responsible for diverse folk tales and legends about dwarfs and these old stories surround the site.

Both cells (bed-places) have curving walls, the southern one is somewhat larger and has a small ledge at the back end.

There was a time when visitors to the “Dwarfie Stane” used to leave offerings at the site. Why? Was the chamber built for a hermit, a monk perhaps, who lived there alone?

It is said that a large sandstone block lying outside the opening was initially used to seal the opening; the mysterious tomb was still sealed in the 16th century.

There is no record of any archaeological excavation being carried out on the mysterious stone slab, nor do we know what, if anything, was found inside.

However, there is a trace after a hole (later filled with concrete), probably an attempt to break into the stone ‘s interior via the roof.

According to an ancient Orcadian legend, the Dwarfie Stane was said to be the work of a giant and his wife. A third giant, who wanted to make himself the master of the island of Hoy, imprisoned the gargantuan couple inside the stone. But his evil plans failed because the imprisoned giant managed to find his way out through the roof of the chamber.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

There’s a Valley of Whales in the Middle of Egypt’s Desert and its Millions of Years old

There’s a Valley of Whales in the Middle of Egypt’s Desert and its Millions of Years old

This is one of the driest areas in the world, with only a few centimeters of rain a year, but the bodies of whales are emerging from the shifting sands of the Egyptian Sahara Desert. The fossilized remains are helping to reveal how much of Egypt was once covered by a vast ancient ocean around 50 million years ago.

It is known as Wadi al-Hitan, or Valley of the whales. This area contains the fossilized bones of an ancestor of modern whales that have fascinated tourists and paleontologists alike since they were first discovered in 1902.

It is now being set up like an open-air museum to show off the beasts that once swam over the area, 93 miles (150 km) southwest of Cairo. The Valley of the Whales in Egypt is home to some of the most remarkable paleontological sites on Earth due to its unusual history.

Wadi al-Hitan, or the Valley of the Whales, boasts a fascinating collection of fossils of ancient sea creatures because the area was underwater 50 million years ago at the bottom of an ocean called the Tethys Sea, which occupied the space in between Africa and Asia

Around 50 million years ago the area was at the bottom of an ocean called the Tethys Sea, which occupied the space in between Africa and Asia before India joined with the continent, pushing up the Himalayas

The whale skeletons in the region offer a glimpse into the past, as the species of whale that once called this desert valley home is now extinct. The Archaeoceti – which means ‘ancient wales’ – found in Wadi al-Hitan are some of the earliest forms of whales to emerge.

Cetaceans evolved from a land-based creature with legs, which is why many species of whale and dolphin have a phantom hip bone where the legs once attached to the body.

The whale skeletons in the region offer a glimpse into the past, as the species of whale that once called this desert valley home, the Archaeoceti, is now extinct 
Tourists walk around the rocks in the natural reserve area of Wadi AL-Hitan and can see the whale fossils as they pass

Over millions of years of evolution, legs became redundant for the seafaring creatures, but some of the Archaeoceti skeletons found in Wadi al-Hitan still have their legs, complete with toes, intact.

This offers a glimpse into the evolutionary past of the whale to a time when it was still adapting to its ocean environment.

Despite whale fossils being discovered in the area over one hundred years ago, it was only made into a conservation area in the 80s, and it now acts as an open-air museum, such as the rich variety of its fossils.

Fossilized sharks, whales, and plants have allowed paleontologists to build a picture of the ancient ecology of the lost Tethys sea.

The geology of the area combines sandstone and limestone deposited by the ancient ocean with a desert landscape of sand dunes.

Over the years erosion from wind and sand has slowly revealed the fossilised skeletons trapped and preserved in the sandstone formations.

Two types of whale have been uncovered in Wadi al-Hitan, the basilosaurus, measuring up to 20 meters, and the smaller dorudon.

The Valley of the Whales is a UNESCO world heritage site.

All In One Magazine