Lost Persian army found after 2,500 years
Archeologists have discovered the remains of a vast Persian force said to have perished in the sands of the western Egyptian desert some 2,500 years ago.
Italian researchers say they have solved one of history's biggest mysteries - what happened to the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II?
Fifty thousand warriors vanished in what is thought to have been a huge sandstorm in 525BC.
According to reports from the time, Cambyses sent out a mighty force 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 seven days walking they took a short break at an 'oasis', which historians believe was El-Kharga, and were then 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.
But no remains have ever been found, and the story had begun to be looked upon as purely legend - until now.
Through a mixture of an old fashioned hunch and plenty of skill, twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni say they have discovered the warriors' remains.
It turns out the men had got lost and then took shelter wherever they could when the storm hit.
The Castiglionis investigated 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 are Persian arrow heads and swords. Thus revealing the final resting place of the king's army.
Weird Science Factoid: The body's smallest muscles are found in the ears. They are attached to the body's smallest bones.
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Daniel Smith - a long time ago, in a galaxy far away just north of Watford, Daniel fancied himself as a scientist but turned out to be the worst scientist since that bloke who mapped out all those canals on Mars that turned out to be scratches on his telescope's lens. Luckily, he is now not working on the Large Hadron Collider inadvertently creating a black hole that would swallow the world but is safely behind a desk writing this blog, bringing you the fantastical underbelly of nature... weird science.
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