Fossil discoveries Fossils dating to the
Pliocene era (5.3-2.6 million years ago) have been discovered in the Wadi El Natrun region, including the long-snouted crocodile
Euthecodon, softshell turtles, the camel
Paracamelus, the three toed
hipparionine equine
Cormohipparion, the primitive hippopotamus
Archaeopotamus andrewsi, antelope including
reedbuck (
Renunca) and
Alcelaphinae, and the elephant-relative
Deinotherium.
Ancient history Natron valley is first attested in the story of the
Eloquent Peasant, and it is mentioned among the list of seven oases in the
Temple of Edfu. In
Ptolemaic times it constituted part of the Nitrite nome (). It was also known in Coptic as
Mountain of Salt () The importance of the Natrun valley dates back to the Pharaonic era, as the
ancient Egyptians and the
Libyans fought many battles there. And this ended up with the Egyptians overcoming them and annexed the eastern side of the desert, which still belongs to Egypt. Then, Wadi al-Natrun became an administrative part of the country in the Pharaonic era, but there is no information about its history during their reign, and the latest writings on the wars between the
Libu and the Egyptians indicate that the last of them was in 1170 BC during the reign of
Ramesses III. As for the religious significance of Wadi al-Natrun, there are many discoveries that indicate that this area was considered sacred as early as year 2000 BCE at the very least. Among these discoveries is a bust of black granite dating back to the era of the
Seventeenth Dynasty of the Pharaohs, and there is also a granite gate and stones from the lintel of a door bearing cartridges for King
Amenemhat I, in a place called the backbone.
Economic history The
alkali lakes of the Natron Valley provided the
Ancient Egyptians with the
sodium bicarbonate used in
mummification and in
Egyptian faience, and later by the
Romans as a flux for
glass making. The Wadi El Natrun was likely one of the most important centers of primary glass production in
Roman Egypt, supplying the
provinces of the Roman Empire with raw glass material. Excavations revealed remains of large rectangular melting furnaces. After a tank furnace had cooled down completely, its vaulted roof was dismantled, and the resulting glass block was extracted and dispatched for further processing. This design form was probably chosen to facilitate the transport of the produced raw glass blocks to secondary workshops, which themselves might not had direct access to the necessary raw materials.
Ouest Embiez 1, an early 3rd-century shipwreck discovered off the southern coast of
Gallia, was carrying cargo of raw glass in blocks of different sizes, totaling around 15 to 18 tonnes, which appears to confirm the export of raw glass from the eastern provinces to some extent. The
Egyptian Salt and Soda Company Railway was built at the end of the 19th century as a 33 miles (54 km) long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 750 mm, which attracted the first tourists to the wadi.
Monastic history The desolate region became one of Christianity's most sacred areas. The
Desert Fathers and
cenobitic monastic communities used the desert's solitude and privations to develop self-discipline (
asceticism). Hermit monks believed that desert life would teach them to eschew the things of this world and follow
God's call. Between the 4th and 7th century AD, hundreds of thousands of people from the world over joined the hundreds of Christian
monasteries in the Nitrian Desert, centered on Nitria, Kellia and Scetis (Wadi El Natrun). Saint
Macarius of Egypt first came to Scetis (Wadi El Natrun) around 330 AD where he established a solitary monastic site. His reputation attracted a loose band of
anchorites,
hermits and
monks who settled nearby in individual cells. Many of them came from nearby Nitria and Kellia where they had previous experience in solitary desert living; thus the earliest cenobitic communities were a loose consolidation of like-minded monks. By the end of the fourth century, four distinct communities had developed: Baramus, Macarius, Bishoi and John Kolobos. At first these communities were groupings of
cells centered on a communal
church and facilities, but enclosed walls and watchtowers developed over time and in response to raids from desert nomads. causing many notable
Desert Fathers to leave the region, such as
Abba Anoub. As the Jesuit historian and Professor Willian J. Harmless said, "Scetis’s destruction marked a turning point in the history of early Christian monasticism. The site would be resettled a few years later, and in fact would suffer other raids, notably in 434, 444, and 570."
Saint-Exupéry's plane crash The environs of Wadi Natrun have been identified as the likely site of where the plane of French aviator
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry crashed on December 30, 1935. After miraculously surviving the crash, he and his plane's mechanic nearly died of thirst before being rescued by a nomad. Saint-Exupéry documented his experience in his book
Wind, Sand and Stars. The event is thought to have inspired his most famous work,
The Little Prince. ==Gallery==