{"id":2001,"date":"2021-06-30T09:34:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T09:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/?p=2001"},"modified":"2021-06-30T09:34:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-30T09:34:00","slug":"saudi-geologists-just-discovered-a-37-million-year-old-extinct-whale-in-the-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/?p=2001","title":{"rendered":"Saudi geologists just discovered a 37 million-year-old extinct whale in the desert"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2002\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2002\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20000.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"599\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2002\" srcset=\"wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20000.jpg 800w, wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20000-300x225.jpg 300w, wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20000-768x575.jpg 768w, wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20000-74x55.jpg 74w, wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20000-111x83.jpg 111w, wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20000-215x161.jpg 215w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2002\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saudi geologists just discovered a 37 million-year-old extinct whale in the desert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nGeologists in Saudi Arabia recently unearthed the remains possibly the last animal one would expect to find in the Kingdom\u2019s vast desert: a whale.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, the remains of a 37 million-year-old extinct whale have been found in a Saudi Arabian desert.<\/p>\n<p>Experts have found it extremely difficult for whales to survive in the desert, which probably explains the extinction.<\/p>\n<p>But seriously\u2014the amazing discovery is a key to Saudi Arabia\u2019s ancient history, when the sea expanded far within the borders of the present day Peninsula.<\/p>\n<p>The Saudi Geological Survey announced that the whale was from the Upper Eocene era, in the Al-Jawf region, northwest of the Kingdom.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2003\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2003\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20011.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"597\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2003\" srcset=\"wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20011.jpg 800w, wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20011-300x225.jpg 300w, wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20011-768x573.jpg 768w, wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20011-74x55.jpg 74w, wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20011-111x83.jpg 111w, wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20011-215x161.jpg 215w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2003\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saudi geologists just discovered a 37 million-year-old extinct whale in the desert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nCEO of the Saudi Geological Commission Abdullah Al-Shamrani said that a survey was conducted on the calcareous cliffs, which contain limestone and other chalky substances, near the governorates of Qurayyat and Haditha. The survey aimed to gather and identify the types of marine fossils and their deposition on environments in northern Saudi Arabia 37 million years ago.<\/p>\n<p>This is not the first archaeological source that Saudi Arabia has discovered. Earlier this year, archaeologists in northwest Saudi Arabia uncovered the earliest evidence of dog domestication by the region\u2019s ancient inhabitants.<\/p>\n<p>The dog\u2019s bones showed signs of arthritis, which suggests the animal lived with the humans into its middle or old age. Rock art found in the region indicates that the Neolithic inhabitants used dogs when hunting ibex, wild asses, and other animals, maybe whales.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we are finding will revolutionize how we view periods like the Neolithic in the Middle East. To have that kind of memory\u2014that people may have known for hundreds of years where their kin were buried \u2013 that\u2019s unheard of in this period in this region,\u201d said Melissa Kennedy, assistant director of the Aerial Archaeology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (AAKSAU) \u2013 AlUla project.<\/p>\n<p>The discovery came from one of the many projects happening in the many archaeological surveys and excavations happening in AlUla, the ancient and unexplored city sitting in the Northwest desert of the country. AlUla is a largely unknown oasis valley in the vast desert of the Northwest Arabian Peninsula, once a prosperous and important crossroad on the incense route and home to 3,000 years of powerful successive civilizations.<\/p>\n<p>spa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Geologists in Saudi Arabia recently unearthed the remains possibly the last animal one would expect to find in the Kingdom\u2019s vast desert: a whale. Yes, the remains of a 37 million-year-old extinct whale have been found in a Saudi Arabian desert. Experts have found it extremely difficult for whales to survive in the desert, which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[10,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2004,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions\/2004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}