ArchaeoBlog

Vanished Persian army said found in desert

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 archaeologists.
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 — 50,000 strong — of Persian King Cambyses II, 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.

Interesting. One would think that artifacts, including organics,would be common, but only a few are said to have been found (although many may have been grabbed by looters already).

This is sure to cause some problems: The team communicated their finding to the Geological Survey of Egypt and gave the recovered objects to the Egyptian authorities. “We never heard back.”

UPDATE: More links from the EEF:
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/cambyses-army-remains-sahara.html

There is a slideshow:
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/cambyses-lost-army-images.html

and a video:
http://news.discovery.com/videos/archaeology-ancient-lost-army-found.html

The video is informative, showing as it does the route they think the army took.