Scientists have found out where Hannibal crossed the Alps – BBC

In 218 BC one of the greatest generals and statesmen of antiquity, Hannibal Barca made the famous crossing of the Alps. The transition was carried out after the Carthaginian army led by Hannibal defeated the Gallic tribes Wolken. Historians still wonder: where is the commander crossed the Alps during a hike to Italy

A recently managed to get a microbiologist at Queens University in Belfast (Northern Ireland)?. The text of the study can be available in the scientific journal Archaeometry

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Using the method of studying the materials obtained from the uncultivated samples from the study of genes and the genome of living organisms, and by studying the chemical reactions occurring in the environment, the researchers discovered that the Col de la Traverset huge amount of horse feces. The researchers then used the radiocarbon dating (dating method used to determine the biological age of the remains, objects and materials of biological origin) and realized:

feces belonged horses Hannibal’s army.

«It’s amazing. The exact location of transition Hannibal has long been a mystery – the scientists commented. – No one could figure out exactly where transition has been made. Once the archaeologists found some remains in the Alps – and thought it was the remains of Hannibal’s elephants. But it turned out that the remains belong to the woolly mammoth, who could not participate in the campaign to

Italy. “Scientists remind us that 30 thousand. Soldiers took part in the famous passage 37 elephants and 15 thousand. horses and mules.

«We are amazed: the height of Col de la Traverset is about 3 thousand meters above sea level, and Hannibal crossed it with a great army and animals.” – Authors of the study are divided. By the way, the hypothesis that the commander was gone this route, first proposed in the mid-nineteenth century British biologist Gavin de Beer – but it proved extremely unpopular

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An additional proof that Hannibal made the transition through the Col de la Traverset is finding Clostridium – bacteria capable of producing endospores – resting, mostly unable to reproduce the form. “Now we are going to study bacteria and try to find out if they were contained in the feces of warriors, horses or elephants, – commented the authors of the study

-. If you find that clostridia contained in faeces elephants – it will be a real bomb. ”

«All this is very interesting and shows how modern biology can answer the questions that interest humanity for many years”, – divided scientists

Hannibal on the right. considered one of the greatest military strategists in history. Scientists put it on par with Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Scipio, and Pyrrhus of Epirus and Napoleon Bonaparte. As a child, Hannibal vowed to be the enemy of Rome – and in 183 BC, the Romans did not want to give up, took the poison out of the ring, which is in any case carried with him

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