Thaindian News

Washington, November 10 (ANI): Italian researchers have suggested that hundreds of bleached bones and skulls found in the desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert may be the remains of a long lost mighty Persian army 2,500 years ago.

According to a report in Discovery News, 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.

As no trace of the hapless warriors was ever found, scholars had earlier begun to dismiss the story as a fanciful tale.

Now, two top Italian archaeologists, twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni, claim to have found striking evidence that the Persian army was indeed swallowed in a sandstorm.

While working in the area, the researchers noticed a half-buried pot and some human remains.

Then the brothers spotted a rock about 35 meters (114.8 feet) long, 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in height and 3 meters (9.8 feet) deep.

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.

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.

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.

“I’m sure that the lost army is buried somewhere around the area we surveyed, perhaps under five meters (16.4 feet) of sand,” he added. (ANI)