Remains of Lost Army Believed to be Found

Bas-relief of a Persian soldier shows earring like one found in the Sahara.

One of archaeology’s major mysteries may have been solved with the recent discovery of the remains of a Persian army that disappeared 2,500 years ago in the sands of the Egyptian desert.

After 13 years of searching, Italian researchers have located bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones in a desolate region of the Sahara desert. They believe the remains are of 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.

According to Discovery News:

According to Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun after the priests there refused to legitimize his claim to Egypt.

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.

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.

A mass grave in the sand with bones believed to belong to soldiers of the lost army.

Click here for the Discovery News article.

Click here for a 3-minute video related to the discovery.

Click here for another article, this one from the London Daily Mail.

Two Tribes Found in Sahara Stone Age Cemetery

The 200 graves unearthed earlier this year in the largest Stone Age cemetery yet discovered in the Sahara Desert have revealed bodies of two successive populations. These people occupied a southern Sahara region called Gobero in what is now the country of Niger. At the time of their Stone Age occupation, the desert was a green and fertile savannah. 

First were the Kiffians, tall hunters of wild game who also fished with harpoons carved from animal bone. The later group were the Ténérians, a smaller people who lived there, hunting, fishing and herding cattle.

Paul Sereno, a University of Chicago scientist who discovered the ancient graveyard about eight years ago while searching for dinosaur bones, says the Gobero settlements started about 10,000 years ago and lasted about 5,000 years.

In describing the 200 graves, he said some burials were accompanied by pottery and ivory ornaments. A girl was buried wearing a bracelet carved from a hippo tusk. A man was seated on the carapace of a turtle. A scene of particular poignancy was the triple burial of a woman lying on her side, facing two young children, whose arms reached out to the woman in an embrace.

Here are some photos of the archaeological work being done by Dr. Sereno and his team at the Gobero site, taken by Mike Hettwer of National Geographic.


Paul Sereno and Elena Garcea excavate adjacent burials at Gobero, the largest graveyard discovered to date in the Sahara.

Two distinct cultures lived at Gobero. The Kiffians, like the male at left, were tall. This skull was dated at 9,500 years ago. A dry interlude chased the Kiffians away. When the rains returned, the Tenerians, who were shorter and leaner, populated the area. The Tenerian male, right, died when he was about 18. The skull was dated at 5,800 years old.

In this grave, a Tenerian woman and two children, about 5 and 8 years old, were posed in an embrace. Pollen under the skeletons indicate that they were laid on top of flowers. The bones show no sign of the cause of death.

A close-up of the burial of the woman and two children. The 5-year-old is at left.

This Tenerian girl, about 11 years old, died 4,800 years ago. She was buried wearing a bracelet carved from a hippopotamus tusk on her upper arm. The Tenerians buried their dead on top of dunes near a lake.

Paul Sereno works to stabilize the skull of a woman of a nomadic culture knowns as the Tenerians, who lived in the area in Niger from 6,500 to 4,500 years ago, when rains fell and lakes dotted the Sahara.

Click here for a New York Times article about the Gobero excavation.

Click here for a New York Times article about the Sahara’s shift from savannah to desert.