I recently stumbled across this interesting story. It is from 2012, but has not been widely announced. You can see additional photos at the website below.
Vanished
Persian Army Said Found in Desert
Nov 27, 2012 03:00 AM
ET //
The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have
drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have
been finally located, solving one of archaeology's biggest outstanding
mysteries, according to Italian researchers.
Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and
hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara
desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King
Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic
sandstorm in 525 B.C.
"We have found the first archaeological
evidence of a story reported by the Greek historian Herodotus," Dario Del
Bufalo, a member of the expedition from the University of Lecce, told Discovery
News. |
| All photos from: http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/cambyses-army-remains-sahara.htm |
After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to an "oasis," which historians believe was El-Kharga. After they left, they were never seen again.
"A wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear," wrote Herodotus.
A century after Herodotus wrote his account,
Alexander the Great made his own pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun, and in 332
B.C. he won the oracle's confirmation that he was the divine son of Zeus, the
Greek god equated with Amun.
The tale of Cambyses' lost army, however, faded into
antiquity. As no trace of the hapless warriors was ever found, scholars began
to dismiss the story as a fanciful tale.
Now, two top Italian archaeologists claim to have
found striking evidence that the Persian army was indeed swallowed in a
sandstorm. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni are already famous for
their discovery 20 years ago of the ancient Egyptian "city of gold"
Berenike Panchrysos.
Presented recently at the archaeological film
festival of Rovereto, the discovery is the result of 13 years of research and
five expeditions to the desert.
"It all started in 1996, during an expedition
aimed at investigating the presence of iron meteorites near Bahrin, one small
oasis not far from Siwa," Alfredo Castiglioni, director of the Eastern
Desert Research Center (CeRDO)in Varese, told Discovery News.
While working in the area, the researchers noticed a
half-buried pot and some human remains. Then the brothers spotted something
really intriguing -- what could have been a natural shelter.
It was a rock about 35 meters (114.8 feet) long, 1.8
meters (5.9 feet) in height and 3 meters (9.8 feet) deep. Such natural
formations occur in the desert, but this large rock was the only one in a large
area.
"Its size and shape made it the perfect refuge
in a sandstorm," Castiglioni said.
Right there, the metal detector of Egyptian
geologist Aly Barakat of Cairo University located relics of ancient warfare: a
bronze dagger and several arrow tips.
"We are talking of small items, but they are extremely important as they are the first Achaemenid objects, thus dating to Cambyses' time, which have emerged from the desert sands in a location quite close to Siwa," Castiglioni said.
About a quarter mile from the natural shelter, the
Castiglioni team found a silver bracelet, an earring and few spheres which were
likely part of a necklace.
"An analysis of the earring, based on
photographs, indicate that it certainly dates to the Achaemenid period. Both
the earring and the spheres appear to be made of silver. Indeed a very similar
earring, dating to the fifth century B.C., has been found in a dig in
Turkey," Andrea Cagnetti, a leading expert of ancient jewelry, told
Discovery News.In the following years, the Castiglioni brothers studied ancient maps and came to the conclusion that Cambyses' army did not take the widely believed caravan route via the Dakhla Oasis and Farafra Oasis.
"Since the 19th century, many archaeologists
and explorers have searched for the lost army along that route. They found
nothing. We hypothesized a different itinerary, coming from south. Indeed we
found that such a route already existed in the 18th Dynasty," Castiglioni
said.
According to Castiglioni, from El Kargha the army
took a westerly route to Gilf El Kebir, passing through the Wadi Abd el Melik,
then headed north toward Siwa.
"This route had the advantage of taking the
enemy aback. Moreover, the army could march undisturbed. On the contrary, since
the oasis on the other route were controlled by the Egyptians, the army would
have had to fight at each oasis," Castiglioni said.
To test their hypothesis, the Castiglioni brothers
did geological surveys along that alternative route. They found desiccated
water sources and artificial wells made of hundreds of water pots buried in the
sand. Such water sources could have made a march in the desert possible."Termoluminescence has dated the pottery to 2,500 years ago, which is in line with Cambyses' time," Castiglioni said.
In their last expedition in 2002, the Castiglioni
brothers returned to the location of their initial discovery. Right there, some
100 km (62 miles) south of Siwa, ancient maps had erroneously located the
temple of Amun.
The soldiers believed they had reached their
destination, but instead they found the khamsin -- the hot, strong,
unpredictable southeasterly wind that blows from the Sahara desert over Egypt.
"Some soldiers found refuge under that natural
shelter, other dispersed in various directions. Some might have reached the
lake of Sitra, thus surviving," Castiglioni said.
At the end of their expedition, the team decided to
investigate Bedouin stories about thousands of white bones that would have
emerged decades ago during particular wind conditions in a nearby area.Indeed, they found a mass grave with hundreds of bleached bones and skulls.
"We learned that the remains had been exposed
by tomb robbers and that a beautiful sword which was found among the bones was
sold to American tourists," Castiglioni said.
Among the bones, a number of Persian arrow heads and
a horse bit, identical to one appearing in a depiction of an ancient Persian
horse, emerged.
"In the desolate wilderness of the desert, we
have found the most precise location where the tragedy occurred," Del
Bufalo said.
The team communicated their finding to the
Geological Survey of Egypt and gave the recovered objects to the Egyptian authorities.
"We never heard back. I'm sure that the lost
army is buried somewhere around the area we surveyed, perhaps under five meters
(16.4 feet) of sand."
Mosalam Shaltout, professor of solar physics at the
National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Helwan, Cairo,
believes it is very likely that the army took an alternative western route to
reach Siwa."I think it depended on their bad planning for sufficient water and meals during the long desert route and most of all by the occurrence of an eruptive Kamassen sandy winds for more than one day," Shaltout told Discovery News.
Piero Pruneti, editor of Archeologia Viva, Italy's
most important archaeology magazine, is also impressed by the team's work.
"Judging from their documentary, the Castiglioni's
have made a very promising finding," Prunetic told Discovery News.
"Indeed, their expeditions are all based on a careful study of the
landscape…An in-depth exploration of the area is certainly needed!"
A Fascinating story. It is good to solve a mystery especially from such an historical time.
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