Egypt has many fossil-bearing geologic formations, in which many dinosaurs have been discovered.
Scientists
edit- Ernst Stromer
- Richard Markgraf, early 1900s, (he died in Sinnuris of Giza in 1916)
- A. B. Orlebar, Fayoum 1845
- George Schweinfurth, Geziret al-Qarn in Lake Qarun 1879 & Qasr al-Sagha Formation ancient whale fossils named Zeuglodom osiris.
- Hugh Beadnell, Fayoum 1898
- Charles Andrews, 1901, they unearthed a wealth of fossils Palaeomastodon, the oldest known elephant
- Eberhard Frass, Fayoum 1905
- Walter Granger & Henry F. Osborn, Fayoum 1907
- Wendell Phillips, 1947
- Elwyn L. Simons, Fayoum 1961–1986
- Thomas M. Bown and David Tab Rasmussen, 1980s
Fossils
editPetrified Wood
editFayoum, Petrified wood protectorate in New-Cairo Area/ Cairo-Suez desert road & entire Western Desert of Egypt is covered in Petrified wood.
This is one of the clues that the region was a tropical climate. The petrified wood is very diverse and many samples are very beautiful, often actually littering the ground in certain areas.
Reptiles
edit- Turtle fossils in Fayoum
- Testudo ammon, a large land tortoise
- Podocnemis blanckenhorni river turtle
- Stereogenys pelomedusa tropical land turtles
- Gigantic snake fossils found in the Qasr al-Sagha Formation.
- Tomistoma, a crocodile type animal.
Birds
editThe area of Uganda bordering Lake Victoria and the upper Nile River area is not unlike the climate of the Fayoum long ago, where many bird fossils have been discovered.
- ospreys (Pandionidae)
- Gigantic shoebilled stork (Balaenicipitidae)
- jacanas, sometimes called lily-trotters (Jacanidae)
- herons, egrets, rails (Rallidae)
- cranes (Gruidae)
- flamingos (Phoenicopteridae)
- storks (Ciconiidae)
- cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae)
- An ancient eagle named Accipitridae
Mammals
edit- large Hyrax (Megalohyrax oecaenus)
- Elephants
- mastodons
- Fayoum's whale or Zeuglodon or more precisely the Basilosaurus in Fayoum's Wadi Zeuglodon (or wadi al-Hitan, Whale Valley)
- Another whale in Wadi Zeuglodon is the Dorudon
- Primitive whale from Fayum Depression Phiomicetus
- Arsinoitherium, a rhinoceros like animal with two horns
- Elephants (mastodons) in Fayoum
- Moeritherium in Fayoum, and in Wadi El Natrun
- Palaeomastodon
- Phioma
- Apterodon
- Pterodon
- Hyaenodon
- Sirenia (Sea Cow)
Primates
editThe Fayoum primates
- The Lower sequence primates
- The upper sequence primates
- Parapithecus fraasi
- Parapithecus grangeri
- Aegyptopithecus zeuxis
- Propliopithecus, (P. chirobates, P. ankeli, P. haeckeli and P. markgrafi)
Dinosaurs
editFossil sites
editSee also
editWikimedia Commons has media related to Fossils of Egypt.