14 fossilised teeth found in Egypt’s ancient shark graveyard reveal five extinct species from the age of dinosaurs

A barren stretch of Egypt’s Western Desert has yielded an unexpected glimpse into a prehistoric ocean, with scientists uncovering fossilised shark teeth belonging to five extinct species that lived during the Late Cretaceous, when dinosaurs still dominated the planet. The discovery comes from the Abu-Tartur Plateau in southwestern Egypt, an area that today is an extremely arid landscape but was once covered by a warm tropical sea. The study ‘Egyptian shark graveyard: New Late Cretaceous Lamniform shark assemblage from Duwi Formation of Abu-Tartur Area, Southwestern Desert, Egypt,’ published in 2026 in Cretaceous Research, describes a new assemblage of Late Cretaceous lamniform sharks from the phosphate-rich Duwi Formation. The research was led by Tarek Yassin of Cairo University, together with Jorge D. Carrillo-Briceño, René Kindlimann, Alhussein Ibrahim and Mohamed K. AbdelGawad. According to the researchers, the fossils provide new evidence of shark diversity in the ancient tropical seas of North Africa.Five extinct shark species emerge from Egypt’s ancient shark graveyardThe fossil discovery was made in the Maghrabi-Liffiya sector of the Abu-Tartur Plateau, within the Duwi Formation. The geological formation dates to the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, roughly 83.6 to 72.1 million years ago. That was a dramatically different Egypt from the one seen today. During the Late Cretaceous, global temperatures were considerably warmer and sea levels were higher. Parts of what is now North Africa were submerged beneath shallow or tropical marine environments. The Duwi Formation preserves evidence of this ancient setting in the form of extensive phosphate deposits and fossilised marine animals. The researchers describe the phosphate beds as having formed in a tropical marine environment, creating an unusually valuable geological record of the creatures that inhabited these waters. The shark remains were particularly important because they expand the known record of lamniform sharks from Egypt and provide clues about the diversity of predators that occupied these ancient seas.Fourteen fossil teeth reveal five extinct shark speciesRather than finding complete shark skeletons, the researchers recovered 14 isolated lamniform teeth from phosphate beds in the Maghrabi-Liffiya section. Shark teeth are among the most commonly preserved parts of ancient sharks because sharks continuously shed and replace their teeth throughout their lives. Despite the small number of specimens, the teeth displayed enough distinctive characteristics for the researchers to identify five shark species:Cretalamna cf. C. maroccanaScapanorhynchus cf. S. raphiodonSerratolamna cf. S. serrataSqualicorax bassaniiSqualicorax pristodontusAll five are extinct lamniform sharks. Their different tooth shapes indicate that the ancient shark community was not made up of identical predators competing for precisely the same resources. Some teeth were narrow and sharply pointed, while others were broader and serrated. Such differences can provide clues about feeding strategies and the kinds of prey different sharks were adapted to tackle. The researchers emphasise that all five species are being reported from the Abu-Tartur area for the first time. Even more significantly, Serratolamna cf. S. serrata and Squalicorax bassanii represent first records for Egypt.A possible first African record makes one shark especially significantOne of the most intriguing findings involves Scapanorhynchus cf. S. raphiodon. The researchers say the specimens may represent the first occurrence of this taxon in Africa. They also suggest that the fossils could represent its stratigraphically youngest known occurrence, although they stress that additional specimens and future taxonomic work will be needed before that interpretation can be confirmed with greater confidence. That uncertainty is important. The fossils were identified based primarily on isolated teeth, and distinguishing closely related extinct sharks from dental remains can be challenging. The researchers therefore use “cf.” in some species names to indicate that the specimens are comparable with the named species but that the identification is not considered completely definitive. Even with that qualification, the discovery significantly expands the known geographical record of these prehistoric sharks.The shark graveyard shows how different ancient Egypt lookedThe fossils are a reminder that Egypt's present-day deserts conceal an extensive record of vanished marine environments. The Abu-Tartur Plateau is now an enormous expanse of dry land, but the rocks beneath its surface preserve evidence of a period when marine animals lived in the region. The newly described shark assemblage adds to a growing collection of Late Cretaceous marine fossils from Egypt, including fish, reptiles and other vertebrates. The researchers note that the Duwi Formation marks the onset of fully marine conditions in this part of Egypt, associated with a major marine transgression. The shark teeth therefore provide more than a list of extinct species: they help reconstruct the ecological and chronological history of the ancient North African sea. The phosphate beds also help explain why such delicate evidence survived. The fossils were recovered from phosphate layers, where chemical and geological processes helped preserve the remains. The colour of the shark teeth varies from black and grey to yellow depending on the phosphate layer and subsequent weathering processes described by the researchers.Why the discovery matters for prehistoric shark researchThe significance of the Egyptian discovery extends beyond the five species themselves. Sharks have existed for hundreds of millions of years, but their fossil record is often dominated by isolated teeth rather than complete skeletons. Every new fossil-bearing locality can therefore add another piece to the picture of where different shark groups lived, how widespread they were and how marine ecosystems changed through geological time. The Abu-Tartur assemblage also strengthens evidence that Late Cretaceous North Africa supported a surprisingly diverse shark community. The presence of multiple lamniform species in a single phosphate-bearing marine sequence suggests that these predators were part of a complex ecosystem rather than isolated inhabitants of ancient Egyptian waters. The researchers conclude that the fossils shed new light on the palaeodiversity, stratigraphic history, chronology and palaeoenvironmental context of extinct sharks in North Africa during the Late Cretaceous. For a landscape now defined by sand, rock and extreme dryness, the discovery offers an extraordinary reminder of its distant past. Beneath Egypt's desert lies a geological archive from a time when the region was part of a warm tropical sea, and its fossilised shark teeth preserve evidence of predators that disappeared tens of millions of years before humans appeared.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.