Researchers Find Shark Graveyard—in the Desert

In a stretch of Egyptian desert that today feels anything but aquatic, scientists say they've found evidence of a bustling ancient sea—in the form of a shark "graveyard." Between 2020 and 2022, researchers working on the Abu-Tartur Plateau in the Western Desert uncovered 16 fossilized teeth from seven shark species, according to a new study in Cretaceous Research, reports Live Science.

The teeth date to the Late Cretaceous, roughly 100 million to 66 million years ago, per IFL Science, when higher sea levels flooded what is now arid land. Some of the teeth are from species never before documented in Africa, let alone Egypt. "It gives us a glimpse into a much more diverse marine ecosystem than we previously knew existed in this part of North Africa," lead study author Tarek Yassin of the Geology Department at Cairo University tells the latter outlet. The mix includes an ancient relative of modern goblin sharks, suggesting that a rich and complex marine ecosystem once thrived there. Scientists plan further digs, saying the plateau and its phosphate-rich rocks likely hold more marine fossils.