Wadi El Hitan, Arabic وادي الحيتان , "Valley of the Whales", is an Egyptian sandstone formation where many early-whale skeletons were discovered. German botanist Georg August Schweinfurth discovered the first archaeocete whale in Egypt ("Zeuglodon osiris", now "Saghacetus osiris") in 1879. He visited the Qasr el Sagha Formation in 1884 and 1886 and missed the now famous Wadi El Hitan by a few kilometers. German paleontologist Wilhelm Barnim Dames described the material, including the type specimen of "Z. osiris", a well-preserved dentary.