An international team of scientists claims to have solved one of the enduring mysteries of ancient history: where did Hannibal — a Carthaginian general during the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome (218-201 BC) — cross the Alps?
‘Hannibal Crossing the Alps on an Elephant,’ a painting by Nicolas Poussin.
In 218 BC, Hannibal, also known as Hannibal Barca (247-183 BC), famously led his troops across the Alps to invade Italia.
While he was ultimately defeated at Zama in 202 BC, this campaign is rightly regarded today as one of the finest military endeavors of antiquity.
“We can say that these events ultimately shaped the future Roman Republic, eventually with Caesar morphing into the Empire, and therefore into European civilization as we know it,” said team leader Prof. Bill Mahaney of York University and his colleagues from Europe, Canada and the United States.
For over 2,000 years, historians have argued about the route Hannibal took across the Alps. Until now, no solid archaeological evidence has been forthcoming.
However, Prof. Mahaney and co-authors have finally provided solid evidence for the most likely transit route that took Hannibal’s forces across the Alps — via the Col de Traversette pass.
This crossing point was first proposed over a half century ago by the biologist and polymath Sir Gavin de Beer, but has not previously been widely accepted by the academic community.
Prof. Mahaney’s team has shown that a ‘mass animal deposition’ event occurred near the Col de Traversette around 218 BC.
“A large accumulation of mammalian feces at the mire site in the upper Guil Valley near Mt. Viso provides the first evidence of the passage of substantial but indeterminate numbers of mammals within the time frame of the Punic invasion of Italia,” the scientists said.
“Specialized organic biomarkers bound up in a highly convoluted and bioturbated bed constitute an unusual anomaly in a histosol comprised of fibric and hemist horizons that are usually expected to display horizontal bedding.”
“Over 70% of the microbes in horse manure are from a group known as the Clostridia, that are very stable in soil – surviving for thousands of years,” explained team member Dr. Chris Allen, from Queen’s University Belfast.
“We found scientifically significant evidence of these same bugs in a genetic microbial signature precisely dating to the time of the Punic invasion.”
The results were published online March 16 in the journal Archaeometry.
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W.C. Mahaney et al. Biostratigraphic Evidence Relating to the Age-Old Question of Hannibal’s Invasion of Italy, II: Chemical Biomarkers and Microbial Signatures. Archaeometry, published online March 16, 2016; doi: 10.1111/arcm.12228
