fishes in each. From a study of the fishes taken at Hajula, the beds containing them may belong to a slightly more recent time than that of the beds at Hakel. The landscape of Lebanon has been subject to volcanic eruptions, tectonic plate movement, and the rising and dropping of sea levels. The Late Cretaceous was characterized by very high sea levels. During that time fossil-bearing limestone was formed. One of the discoveries reported in 1989 was the description of Hipparion fossils from the Bekaa Valley by M. Malez and A. Forsten. Another find was a snake with two legs. This provided a valuable example of evolution at work, illustrating how ancient lizards became modern snakes. Octopuses are some of the rarest marine fossils, since most species have no hard structures apart from a beak. An octopus's corpse cannot usually survive long enough to become fossilized, which is why the discovery of well-preserved octopuses in Lebanon in 2009 was remarkable. Dirk Fuchs of the Freie University Berlin said about these 95-million-year-old fossil octopuses found in Lebanon: Some of the fossils of Keuppia levante are preserved so well that their ink is still visible. Fossil taxa discovered in Lebanon See also Byblos Fossil Museum Dany Azar on Wikispecies Mim Museum References External links Expo Hakel, a fossil museum in Hakel Paleontological sites of Asia Archaeological sites in Lebanon