SWALLOWED UP AND SPIT OUT
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Nov 21, 2009, 9:20:17 PM11/21/09
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http://spectregroup.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/lost-army-of-cambyses/
VANISHED 2,500 YEAR OLD PERSIAN ARMY FOUND IN EGYPTIAN DESERT?
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/cambyses-lost-army-images.html
http://news.discovery.com/videos/archaeology-ancient-lost-army-found.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ENizFYf96Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzsi1LFZV4w
http://www.archeologiaviva.tv/tv/video/80
THE LOST ARMY OF CAMBYSES
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/cambyses-army-remains-sahara.html
Bones, jewelry and weapons found in Egyptian desert may be the remains
of Cambyses' army that vanished 2,500 years ago
BY Rossella Lorenzi / Nov 08, 2009
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 researchers. 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 of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were
said to be 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.
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.
A century after Herodotus wrote his account, Alexander the Great made
his own pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun, and in 332 B.C. he won the
oracle's confirmation that he was the divine son of Zeus, the Greek
god equated with Amun. 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.
Presented recently at the archaeological film festival of Rovereto,
the discovery is the result of 13 years of research and five
expeditions to the desert. "It all started in 1996, during an
expedition aimed at investigating the presence of iron meteorites near
Bahrin, one small oasis not far from Siwa," Alfredo Castiglioni,
director of the Eastern Desert Research Center (CeRDO) in Varese, told
Discovery News.
While working in the area, the researchers noticed a half-buried pot
and some human remains. Then the brothers spotted something really
intriguing -- what could have been a natural shelter. It was a rock
about 35 meters (114.8 feet) long, 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in height and
3 meters (9.8 feet) deep. Such natural formations occur in the desert,
but this large rock was the only one in a large area. "Its size and
shape made it the perfect refuge in a sandstorm," Castiglioni said.
Right there, the metal detector of Egyptian geologist Aly Barakat of
Cairo University located relics of ancient warfare: a bronze dagger
and several arrow tips. "We are talking of small items, but they are
extremely important as they are the first Achaemenid objects, thus
dating to Cambyses' time, which have emerged from the desert sands in
a location quite close to Siwa," Castiglioni said.
About a quarter mile from the natural shelter, the Castiglioni team
found a silver bracelet, an earring and few spheres which were likely
part of a necklace. "An analysis of the earring, based on photographs,
indicate that it certainly dates to the Achaemenid period. Both the
earring and the spheres appear to be made of silver. Indeed a very
similar earring, dating to the fifth century B.C., has been found in a
dig in Turkey," Andrea Cagnetti, a leading expert of ancient jewelry,
told Discovery News.
In the following years, the Castiglioni brothers studied ancient maps
and came to the conclusion that Cambyses' army did not take the widely
believed caravan route via the Dakhla Oasis and Farafra Oasis. "Since
the 19th century, many archaeologists and explorers have searched for
the lost army along that route. They found nothing. We hypothesized a
different itinerary, coming from south. Indeed we found that such a
route already existed in the 18th Dynasty," Castiglioni said.
According to Castiglioni, from El Kargha the army took a westerly
route to Gilf El Kebir, passing through the Wadi Abd el Melik, then
headed north toward Siwa. "This route had the advantage of taking the
enemy aback. Moreover, the army could march undisturbed. On the
contrary, since the oasis on the other route were controlled by the
Egyptians, the army would have had to fight at each oasis,"
Castiglioni said. To test their hypothesis, the Castiglioni brothers
did geological surveys along that alternative route. They found
desiccated water sources and artificial wells made of hundreds of
water pots buried in the sand. Such water sources could have made a
march in the desert possible. "Termoluminescence has dated the pottery
to 2,500 years ago, which is in line with Cambyses' time," Castiglioni
said.
In their last expedition in 2002, the Castiglioni brothers returned to
the location of their initial discovery. Right there, some 100 km (62
miles) south of Siwa, ancient maps had erroneously located the temple
of Amun. The soldiers believed they had reached their destination, but
instead they found the khamsin -- the hot, strong, unpredictable
southeasterly wind that blows from the Sahara desert over Egypt. "Some
soldiers found refuge under that natural shelter, other dispersed in
various directions. Some might have reached the lake of Sitra, thus
surviving," Castiglioni said.
At the end of their expedition, the team decided to investigate
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. "We learned that the remains had been exposed by tomb robbers
and that a beautiful sword which was found among the bones was sold to
American tourists," Castiglioni said. Among the bones, a number of
Persian arrow heads and a horse bit, identical to one appearing in a
depiction of an ancient Persian horse, emerged. "In the desolate
wilderness of the desert, we have found the most precise location
where the tragedy occurred," Del Bufalo said. The team communicated
their finding to the Geological Survey of Egypt and gave the recovered
objects to the Egyptian authorities. "We never heard back. I'm sure
that the lost army is buried somewhere around the area we surveyed,
perhaps under five meters (16.4 feet) of sand."
Mosalam Shaltout, professor of solar physics at the National Research
Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Helwan, Cairo, believes it is
very likely that the army took an alternative western route to reach
Siwa. "I think it depended on their bad planning for sufficient water
and meals during the long desert route and most of all by the
occurrence of an eruptive Kamassen sandy winds for more than one day,"
Shaltout told Discovery News. Piero Pruneti, editor of Archeologia
Viva, Italy's most important archaeology magazine, is also impressed
by the team's work. "Judging from their documentary, the Castiglioni's
have made a very promising finding," Prunetic told Discovery News.
"Indeed, their expeditions are all based on a careful study of the
landscape... An in-depth exploration of the area is certainly needed!"
MISSING IN ACTION
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/the-quest-for-cambyses-lost-army.html
BY Rossella Lorenzi / Nov 09, 2009
Indeed, many archaeologists and adventures have been scouring the
desert, dreaming of solving the 2,500- year-old mystery. Already in
the 1800s, archaeology pioneer Giovanni Battista Belzoni explored the
desert in vain, searching for the lost army. Perhaps the most famous
desert explorer is the Austro-Hungarian Count László Almásy
(1895-1951), whose life provided inspiration for Anthony Minghella's
film The English Patient. In 1936, Almásy ventured into the desert in
search for clues of the vanished soldiers, but the Great Sand Sea’s
giant dunes and the khamsin -- the hot, strong, unpredictable
southeasterly wind that blows from the Sahara desert over Egypt --
stopped him. He re-emerged from the Saharan sands four days later --
miraculously alive.
In the last decade there have been several contrasting reports about
intriguing findings in the Western Egyptian desert. It all started
with reports about the 1996 Castiglioni brother expedition, and
continued with geologist Aly Barakat’s announcement of important
discoveries in the area around Bahrain. The revived interest over the
lost army continued in 2000: reports circulated that a Helwan
University geological team, prospecting for petroleum in the Western
Desert, had stumbled across scattered human bones and ancient warfare
relics such as daggers and arrowheads. Announcements of future serious
investigation by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA)
followed, but any information about that research has yet to be
published.
In 2003, geologist Tom Bown, accompanied by archaeologist Gail
MacKinnon and a film crew, returned to the desert. Their search proved
inconclusive. In 2005, another follow-up expedition by a team from the
University of Toledo, Ohio, reached the area around Bahrain, but
failed to find any significant remains, apart from a large number of
fossilized sand dollars, which they believed could have been mistaken
for human bone fragments. Now twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo
Castiglioni (famous for their discovery 20 years ago of the ancient
Egyptian "city of gold" Berenike Panchrysos) have finally shown their
findings. Presented recently at the archaeological film festival of
Rovereto, the documentary is the result of 13 years of research and
five expeditions to the desert. Have they really located the remains
of the mighty Persian army? “We can't tell yet. But they have shown us
the first ever Achaemenid objects, thus dating to Cambyses' time, as
they emerged from the sands near Siwa. This is amazing and certainly
demands further research,” Piero Pruneti, editor of Archeologia Viva.
HERODOTUS
http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.3.iii.html
http://www.google.com/cse?cx=000823599697007823270%3Axvyeoc7qlza&ie=UTF-8&q=Cambyses+&sa=Search
http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/hist06.htm
http://www.thefoghornmagazine.com/fact-block-2.php
http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/herodotus/cambyses.htm
[3.26.1] "So fared the expedition against Ethiopia. As for those who
were sent to march against the Ammonians, they set out and journeyed
from Thebes with guides; and it is known that they came to the city of
Oasis, inhabited by Samians said to be of the Aeschrionian tribe,
seven days' march from Thebes across sandy desert; this place is
called, in the Greek language, Islands of the Blest. [3.26.2] Thus
far, it is said, the army came; after that, except for the Ammonians
themselves and those who heard from them, no man can say anything of
them; for they neither reached the Ammonians nor returned back.
[3.26.3] But this is what the Ammonians themselves say: when the
Persians were crossing the sand from Oasis (probably the oasis of
Kargeh) to attack them, and were about midway between their country
and Oasis, while they were breakfasting a great and violent south wind
arose, which buried them in the masses of sand which it bore; and so
they disappeared from sight. Such is the Ammonian tale about this
army."
CAMBYSES II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambyses_of_Persia#The_Lost_Army_of_Cambyses
http://www.livius.org/caa-can/cambyses_ii/cambyses_ii.html
http://touregypt.net/featurestories/cambyses2.htm
NOW LONG DEAD
http://www.chnpress.com/news/?section=2&id=6865
Discovered Stone Slab Proved to be Gate of Cambyses’ Tomb
BY Maryam Tabeshian / 13 December 2006
A huge stone slab discovered accidentally last year was proved to have
once been the entrance gate to the mausoleum of Cambyses II, son and
successor of Cyrus the Great. Agricultural activities by local farmers
near the world heritage site of Pasargadae last year resulted in the
accidental discovery of a big stone slab bearing some carvings typical
of Pasargadae monuments. The discovered slab was recently proved by
archeologists to have been the entrance gate to the mausoleum of
Cambyses II, son and successor of Cyrus the Great, founder of the
Achameneid Empire (550-330 BC). “A huge stone slab measuring 1.60
meters in height comprised of 5 broken pieces was discovered last
March by farmers at a distance of 100 meters from Tall-e Takht and was
immediately transferred to Parse-Pasargadae Research Center to be
studied by archeologists,” said Afshin Yazdani, archeologist of Parse-
Pasargadae Research Center.
Tall-e Takht or ‘throne hill’ is a citadel located at the heart of
Pasargadae historical complex, the first dynastic capital of the
Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great, in Fars province.
Remains of an unfinished tomb denoted to Achaemenid King Cambyses II
can be seen close to Tall-e Takht, from which only a wall has survived
the ravage of time. Based on studies by British archeologist David
Stronach, the Tomb, also known as Zendan-e Soleiman/Eskandar (Solomon/
Alexander Prison), originally consisted of an almost square, 4-meter-
high tower in which a solitary, raised room was approached by a
projecting monumental stone staircase. It resembles the Achaemenid era
monument of Zoroaster’s Kaba in Naqsh-e Rostam historical site.
According to Yazdani, the stones used in the gate of Cambyses’ tomb
are very similar to a stone slab discovered 50 years ago by
archeologists. At the time, Stronach proposed a theory that the stone
belonged to the mausoleum of Cambyses and drew a sketch of the
original gate which he believed to have had two leaves, each
comprising of 6 rectangular frames. He also drew 3 flowers each having
12 petals on the top and bottom of each frame. “As Stronach himself
was uncertain about his own drawing of the gate, recent discovery of
the gate proves his theory wrong. Based on the new studies, it became
known that the entrance gate of what is called Tomb of Cambyses was
made of two stone leaves each having two rectangular 35 by 59 cm
frames with three 12-petaled flowers on the top and bottom,” explained
Yazdani, adding that the height of each door leaf was found to be 1.75
meters - that is 8 centimeters shorter than the height of the wall.
Archeologists believe that the gate was made shorter on purpose to
allow circulation of air in and out of the mausoleum.
According to the inscriptions of Bisotun historic site, the mausoleum
of Cambyses was destroyed by the Mongol invader Geomat who disguised
himself as Bardia, King Cambyses’ brother and came to power shortly
after Cambyses’ assassination and razed down Achaemenid temples.
Achaemenid King Darius the Great clearly accounts in Bisotun
inscription that he restored the Achaemenid temples after murdering
Geomat. “Evidence left on the stone gate very well confirms that it
was restored during the early days of Darius the Great’s reign,” added
Yazdani. According to Yazdani, the new findings together with the fact
that a similar structure to the mausoleum of Cambyses, Zoroaster’s
Kaba, was built also by Darius the Great at Naqsh-e Rostam, proved
that it was a temple whereas it had previously been variously regarded
as either a tomb, or a fire temple, or a depository.
Cambyses was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great who ruled the
Persian Empire from the death of his father in 530 BC to his own death
in Ecbatane (Syria) eight years later. During his reign, Cambyses
continued the politic of expansion started by his father. First, he
took part with his father to the conquest of Babylonia and was named
King of Babylon after he captured the city in 539. After rising to the
throne, he invaded Egypt in 525 BC, putting an end to the 26th Dynasty
of the Pharaohs and beginning a period of Persian rule that covered
much of the next two centuries.
Cambyses later personally led a force up the Nile to conquer Ethiopia,
but after annexing the north of the country, he ran short of supplies
and had to return. While on his way back from Egypt with his army in
522 BC, Cambyses was assassinated upon order of one of his brothers,
Smerdis, which he himself tried to have assassinated. At his death,
after a short period during which Smerdis assumed the leadership, more
palace struggles led to the rise to the throne of Darius the Great,
whose task was to organize such a vast empire. The mausoleum of the
son and successor of Cyrus the Great, Persian King Cambyses II, was
also registered with other ancient monuments of Pasargadae historic
complex in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1979.
'RAN SHORT ON SUPPLIES' AS IN
'DREW STRAWS AND ATE EACH OTHER'
http://mitchtestone.blogspot.com/2008/10/lost-army-of-cambyses-redux.html
Cambyses II was the emperor of Persia (ruled 530–522 BCE) and
successor to Cyrus the Great. Eager to emulate his father’s deeds of
conquest, and to extend Persian rule across all the known nations (ie
civilisations) of the world, Cambyses invaded Egypt in 525 BCE,
defeating the last true Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus III. Yet today
he is remembered not for his feats of conquest, but for his lost army
– a force of 50,000 warriors, dispatched to conquer a tiny oasis
kingdom, that vanished into the desert and was lost without a single
survivor or the slightest trace being discovered for more than 2,000
years.
Herodotus and Cambyses
The primary source for the tale of Cambyses and his lost army is the
ancient Greek traveller and historian Herodotus, an intrepid man who
travelled all over Egypt just 75 years after the Persian invasion.
Herodotus followed in Cambyses’ footsteps and recorded the local tales
and histories of the invader. Unfortunately his impartiality is
questionable; he had the typical ancient Greek antipathy towards the
Persians and his Histories slander Cambyses remorselessly, painting
him as a despot, madman and general ne’er-do-well. Herodotus first
recounts how Cambyses managed to cross the difficult Sinai desert
region and meet the Egyptians with his army intact, which is relevant
because it shows that the Persians were capable of coping with desert
transits. They recruited Arabian tribes to create water depots at
regular spots along the route – in effect, artificial oases – and in
this manner were able to arrive at the battle site in good order and
defeat Psammetichus.
Later, Cambyses travelled to the major Egyptian cult centres to be
crowned pharaoh but, according to Herodotus, made only a perfunctory
effort to learn about or pay respect to their customs. He then decided
to launch military expeditions against the Ethiopians (to the south),
the Carthaginians (along the coast to the west) and the ‘Ammoniums’ –
ie the inhabitants of the Siwa Oasis, a small fertile enclave deep
within the Western Desert, which was famous for the Oracle of the
Temple of Ammon (the Siwan name for the Egyptian god Amun-Ra, whom the
Greeks equated with Zeus). The priests of the temple were used to
commanding respect from Egypt’s rulers, who were supposed to obtain
‘divine’ favour to legitimise their overlordship. Alexander the Great
made sure to do this when he conquered Egypt 200 years later, but
Cambyses, it seems, failed to follow the proper forms and disdained
the Siwans.
The Siwan expedition
Cambyses took his army south along the Nile to launch his Ethiopian
expedition, stopping at Thebes to detach a force to send to Siwa in
524 BCE. According to Herodotus, in Book III of his Histories, an army
of 50,000 men was ordered to ‘enslave the Ammonians and burn the
oracle of Zeus’. Led by guides, the army set off into the desert,
reaching ‘the city of Oasis’, known to the Greeks as ‘The Isles of the
Blest’ (modern-day Kharga), seven days’ march to the west. After this,
they were never seen again, although the Siwans themselves were
somehow able to give Herodotus a rough account of what happened next:
"this is what the Ammonians themselves say: when the Persians were
crossing the sand from the Oasis to attack them, and were about midway
between … [Siwa] and the Oasis, while they were breakfasting a great
and violent south wind arose, which buried them in the masses of sand
which it bore; and so they disappeared from sight. Such is the
Ammonian tale about this army."
This is the full extent of what we know about the lost army, which has
led many scholars to doubt the episode ever happened. Perhaps
Herodotus was simply inventing the tale to make Cambyses look more
foolish. Why would the Persian emperor waste his time launching a
strike on Siwa? Why would he send such a huge army to conquer such a
small place (probably only a few thousand residents at most)? Above
all, why would he send them via such a perilous route with so little
preparation or precaution?
Herodotus himself suggests, albeit indirectly, some of the answers. A
possible motive for the expedition is that Cambyses was angered by the
attitude of the priests of the Temple of Ammon, who – themselves angry
at a perceived lack of due deference – may have been spreading the
word that his kingship was illegitimate. They may even have predicted
his death. Herodotus also drives home the point that Cambyses was an
irascible drunk, given to fits of spite and cruel rage, and quite
capable of nursing a lethal grudge. He was also unhinged enough to
doom his men with inadequate planning and preparation.
An alternative explanation is that Siwa was only intended as a way
point on a longer journey. Perhaps the real targets were lands further
to the west. Cambyses’ intended assault on Carthage had been called
off because the Phoenicians who provided his navy refused to move
against their kin who had set up the colony at Carthage. Perhaps he
intended to approach them by land instead – this would account for the
apparently disproportionate size of the expeditionary force. If
Herodotus is right, the Persian army met a bleak end. The region they
were travelling across includes barren depressions of bare rock and
boulders; wind-sculpted buttes; plains of salt and dust; vast sand
seas of impassable dunes; searing desert winds hotter than 40°C that
blow for days on end; massive sand storms that will bury anything that
stands still; and an utter absence of water. How the Ammonians knew
the fate of the lost army is unclear, given that they specifically
told Herodotus that not one soldier had reached Siwa, but perhaps they
simply assumed the most likely scenario.
The army in the desert
Apart from being a great unsolved mystery, the miserable desert fate
of the lost army of Cambyses also presents the intriguing likelihood
that there could be a huge find of skeletons, armour, clothing,
weapons and equipment from the ancient Persian era awaiting discovery.
The army would have included in its number soldiers from many
different parts of the antique world. In the uniquely arid conditions,
with the possibility that sand may have covered and protected, the
remains could be amazingly well preserved. There could be an
archaeological treasure trove somewhere in the Sahara.
Hard target
Herodotus provides a few clues about the possible location of the lost
army, describing the army’s route from the oasis known as ‘Island of
the Blest’, which is today a major agricultural town known as Kharga.
From here they would presumably have tried to follow the traditional
caravan route to Siwa, which goes via the oases at Dakhla (a few
hundred kilometres to the west) and then Farafra (a few hundred more
to the north-west). From Herodotus’ account it sounds as though the
Persians may have got to Dakhla or even Farafra, but were then lost as
they attempted to complete the final leg of the journey. Even
narrowing it down this far, however, leaves a dauntingly vast area to
examine. If the Persians got lost out of Dakhla and started going in
the wrong direction they could have ended up pretty much anywhere in
the Western Desert. The Western Desert is one of the hardest places in
the world to be looking for lost relics. It is vast, covering about
two-thirds of modern-day Egypt: an area of 680,000 square kilometres
(263,000 square miles), equal to the combined size of Austria,
Belgium, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. The
conditions, as described above, are incredibly harsh and desolate.
Even modern vehicles with four-wheel drives and special equipment
cannot cope with some of the dunes found in the sand seas. Much of the
area is restricted owing to the security issues of the region:
millions of landmines from World War II, the proximity of the border
with Libya and sensitivities about oil operations and terrorism. And
there is always the likelihood that any finds that are stumbled across
will soon be covered up by the shifting desert sands, never to be seen
again.
The enigmatic Count Almásy
Undaunted, many desert adventurers have dreamed of solving the mystery
of the lost army. Probably the most famous was the Austro-Hungarian
playboy, pilot and desert explorer Count László Almásy, whose life and
times provided the model for the Ralph Fiennes character in The
English Patient. Almásy started off as a self-taught dabbler in the
exotic world of desert discovery, but his expertise with motor
vehicles and his reckless disregard for personal safety led him to
pull off some amazing escapades. During the 1930s he was part of a
crowd mainly composed of genteel British officers interested in desert
travel and exploration, who were primarily fixated on locating the
semi-legendary Zerzura, the Oasis of Little Birds, alluded to in
medieval writings. Almásy amazed the other members of the Zerzura
Club, as they had named themselves, by successfully discovering this
hidden oasis, but his search for Cambyses’ army was less successful
and even more dangerous. Almásy was an avid fan of Herodotus, and in
1936 determined to follow the tracks of the army as described by the
ancient Greek. His journey is described by Saul Kelly in the book The
Lost Oasis: The Desert War and the Hunt for Zerzura. Kelly tells how
on a previous expedition Almásy had discovered pottery fragments that
suggested how the Persians had hoped to cross the waterless desert. By
burying huge caches of amphorae (jars) along the intended route, and
employing local tribesmen to ferry water to them, they could effect a
similar operation to their successful crossing of the Sinai.
This at least was Almásy’s theory, but when he ventured into the
desert from Farafra on his 1936 expedition, he discovered not caches
of jars but a series of cairns that he described as ‘ancient hollow,
circular pyramids of stone about the height of a man’, which seemed to
mark the route across the forbidding sand seas. Perhaps the Persians
had employed scouts to build them, hoping to follow them all the way
to Siwa. Kelly relates that the Almásy party then ran into problems
that gave him an insight into the probable fate of Cambyses’ force.
Their progress was halted by impassable giant dunes, and the hot
desert wind called the khamsin (or khamaseen) blew up, whipping their
vehicles with scalding, 44°C+ storm-force winds. All but one of the
vehicles broke down and they were lucky to make it out of the desert
alive in the third, following a corridor between two towering dunes
until they reached Siwa four days later. Almásy planned a further
expedition, but war broke out and he never got another chance.
Disputed discoveries
In the last decade there have been some slightly confused reports
about discoveries in the Western Desert that sound almost too good to
be true. According to Professor Mosalam Shaltout, chairman of the
Space Research Center at the Desert Environment Research Institute of
Egypt’s Minufiya University, an Italian-led expedition in December
1996 which was surveying for meteorites stumbled across archaeological
remains in the El Bahrein Oasis area of the Western Desert. Aly
Barakat, a geologist with the team, found a dagger blade and hilt,
pottery shards, apparently human bone fragments, burial mounds,
arrowheads and a silver bracelet, which, on the basis of a photograph,
was identified as ‘most likely belonging to the Achaemenid period’ (ie
ancient Persian).
Meanwhile, in 2000 there were widespread reports that a team of oil-
prospecting geologists, said to be from Helwan University, in Cairo,
had stumbled across similar finds in the same area, spotting scattered
arrow heads and human bones. In 2003 geologist Tom Bown led an
expedition to the area, accompanied by archaeologist Gail MacKinnon
and a film crew, to follow up Aly Barakat’s discoveries, which they,
controversially, said had been suppressed by the Egyptian authorities.
Bown claimed to have found remains at the same site, near the El
Bahrein Oasis, at a place later named Wadi Mastour, the Hidden Valley.
In fact he reportedly went as far as describing seeing thousands of
bones littering the desert. Yet another follow-up expedition in 2005,
however, cast serious doubt on the claims of both Barakat and Bown. A
team from the University of Toledo, in Ohio, together with British and
Egyptian associates, travelled to the site near El Bahrein. They
located a broken pot found by both Barakat and Bown, although they
identified it as Roman, but they failed to find any other suggestive
remains beyond a few burial sites, which they claim are common in the
desert. Instead of fields of scattered human bones they found large
numbers of fragments of fossilised sand dollars (sea urchin-like
creatures that leave distinctive round calcite cases), which are
apparently easy to mistake for human bones and could explain the
previous claims.
Can Herodotus be trusted?
So despite tantalising claims and hints, the lost army of Cambyses has
apparently not been found yet, nor any definitive proof that it really
existed. The cairns and pottery found by Almásy and the weapons and
bones allegedly seen by Barakat and Bown may not be what they seem, or
perhaps they simply belong to some of the many other groups who have
made the perilous desert crossing – for instance, the notorious Forty
Days Road slave caravan used to follow the route through the Western
Desert via Kharga. Ultimately the credibility of the tale comes down
to Herodotus. In this sense he was not highly regarded even by other
ancient writers, some of whom felt the sobriquet ‘the Father of
History’ bestowed upon him by Cicero should be changed to ‘the Father
of Lies’. As already noted, he was biased against the Persians and his
portrait of Cambyses has a touch of the pantomime villain. In fact it
seems from other contemporary sources that many groups in Egypt
welcomed the invader, and an inscription specifically records Cambyses
as honouring the Egyptian religion and customs in a praiseworthy
manner. This does not mean that Herodotus made up the story about the
lost army, or even that his sources deceived him, but it does add
another layer of uncertainty to an already difficult search. Should
you choose to believe him, however, you may be able to join the hunt
yourself. In 2004 a tour operator called Aqua Sun Desert set up a
desert safari to explore the Western Desert area around Dakhla,
Farafra, Siwa and El Bahrein and to look for evidence of the lost
army. It was reported at the time that the tours would continue for
five years. As Aqua Sun manager Hisham Nessim says, ‘If we discover
anything about the lost army, it will be the discovery of the
century.’
SIWA
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=siwa+egypt&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&gl=us&ei=J5f4SrfRBYOesgPdqpC1CQ&ved=0CAsQ8gEwAA&hq=&hnear=Siwa,+Marsa+Matrouh,+Egypt&ll=28.620693,26.345215&spn=1.381451,2.903137&t=h&z=9
PREVIOUSLY
http://www.archaeology.org/0009/newsbriefs/cambyses.html
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200407/highlights/234406.htm
CONTACT
Angelo + Alfredo Castiglioni
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_e_Alfredo_Castiglioni
email : Alfredo_Castiglioni [at] virgilio [dot] it
BIOS
http://www.pulpinternational.com/pulp/entry/Lobby-cards-from-Castiglioni-shockumentaries.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondo_film#The_Castiglioni_Brothers
http://www.cigv.it/gallery/Berenice
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2462518
http://web.archive.org/web/20060808213900/http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12837694/
http://www.castellodellacecchignola.it/delbufalo.html
http://www.dariodelbufalo.it/
DISSENT
http://rogueclassicism.com/2009/11/13/cambyses-lost-army-found-dont-eat-that-elmer/
http://egyptology.blogspot.com/2009/11/lost-army-and-other-sites-mentioned.html
http://rambambashi.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/cambyses-not-so-lost-army/
Cambyses’ Still Lost Army
There are two reasons to be suspicious. In the first place, Herodotus
is not a very reliable author. Not because he is not interested in the
truth: on the contrary, he is certainly one of the most truthloving
writers of the ancient world. But it was hard to get correct
information, and Herodotus was standing in a tradition that
appreciated an artful presentation. So, in his Histories, Xerxes‘
failed expedition is mirrored by the failures of earlier Persian
rulers. So, Herodotus says that Cyrus was defeated by the Massagetes
(according to Xenophon, Cyrus died of natural causes); that Darius
lost a navy in a storm at the Athos; that Darius also lost an army
during a Scythian campaign; and that Cambyses lost an army in the
desert. These stories are not necessarily untrue, but the repetition
makes one suspicious. I would not be surprised if some of these
stories were created by Herodotus because he believed they had to have
happened.
But even if we assume that Cambyses sent out an expedition to the
Oracle of Ammon, there is still a reason not to believe the claim by
our two Italian archaeologists. What they have found, or claim to have
found, is a set of Persian weapons (e.g., arrowheads), skulls, and
bones. Even if we assume that they are indeed Persian, it is a serious
logical fallacy to assume that they belong to soldiers of Cambyses’
campaign. The Persians controled Egypt for more than a century (from
525 to c.401) and there must have been dozens of occasions on which
soldiers were sent to the west. All these expeditions may have found
itself lost in the western desert. What archaeologists can find, is
evidence that a Persian army got into trouble; but stating that the
finds belonged to a particular expedition is introducing a secundum
quid. I think we must be suspicious.
ARCHEOLOGICAL TOURISM
http://www.egypttoday.com/issues/0401/4E76/04014E76.asp
Safari Operator's Tours to dig for lost Army
by Maria on Jan 03, 2004
Tourism companies, however, see it as a potential cash cow. "It is a
great opportunity," says Hisham Nessim, manager of Aqua Sun Resort.
"We will give tourists a chance to participate in solving this ancient
mystery and we will sell it as a touristic product." Nessim, a former
desert rally driver, leads the Egyptian Exploration Desert Team
(EEDT), an exploratory "archaeological" mission funded entirely by
private tourism firms. The plan, approved by the Ministry of Tourism,
is to comb the Western Desert in 4WD vehicles packed with paying
tourists hot on the trail of Cambyses' army.
Archaeologists have reacted with suspicion and horror. "It's a very,
very bad idea," contends Salima Ikram, associate professor of
Egyptology at the American University in Cairo. "The more people go
trampling through the desert, the more they muck up the archaeological
evidence." A foreign archaeologist, preferring not to be named,
railed: "Do you think that if they find anything they will leave it
intact? Of course not. They'll pick it up, manhandle it and take home
a few souvenirs. This is just the sort of sh-t we don't need."
Nessim brushes off his critics, who he says are blowing things out of
proportion. Hundreds of desert safari expeditions take tourists to the
Western Desert each year. The only difference here is that the
safari's route winds through areas deemed likely to contain remains of
the lost army. Any evidence discovered will be referred to experts for
analysis. "My license is not to dig, so if I find something I must
report it to the authorities," Nessim says, indicating that the
Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has no objections to the project.
So far, Aqua Sun and co-sponsor Emeco Travel have organized two
expeditions. Neither trip, each of which went ahead despite last-
minute cancellations, made significant discoveries.
"We still have far to go. This secret has been hidden for over 2,000
years and we can't expect to find it in just two trips," says Nessim,
who is reportedly cooperating with US space agency NASA to prepare a
route for a third mission. "There are some places on the ground that I
suspect and they [NASA] will check with satellites."Remote sensors
will also scan an area 50 km southwest of Siwa Oasis, where a Helwan
University geological team prospecting for oil in 2000 discovered
human bones, arrow-heads, frayed textiles and daggers in the dunes.
The find sent shivers of excitement through the archaeological
community, but an SCA team dispatched to excavate found nothing at the
GPS coordinates they were given. The sand may have simply swallowed
the evidence.
"The dunes in the Great Sand Sea move about 30-50 cm a year to the
south and southeast because of the prevailing wind," explains
geologist and EEDT guide Bahei El-Asawi. "It's hard to find anything,
because the sand can cover one area and expose another." The nature of
the desert adds a challenge, says desert safari specialist Hani Zaki
of Emeco Tours, who compares the search for Cambyses' army to finding
a needle in a haystack. "When you're in the Great Sand Sea you can
look 360 and all you see is sand. There are no landmarks, mountains or
anything," he says. "You don't see anybody and there is almost no sign
of life, but there is plenty of natural beauty."
EEDT expeditions run between 10 and 22 days, traversing parts of the
most beautiful and inhospitable desert in the world. The team's 4WD
vehicles are specially equipped for deep desert exploration, carrying
extra fuel, water, rations, parts and GPS equipment. "There's always a
risk, but it's greater if you're not following the rules, are not well-
equipped or don't have experience," says Zaki. "Without risk it's not
an adventure. Our role is to avoid major risks and minimize minor
ones." While Zaki is apologetic that the EEDT team does not include a
professional archaeologist, he strongly rejects arguments that
tourists are being deceived. Clients do not sign up for an
archaeological dig, he says, they come to explore the desert with
veteran guides "who know the desert like the back of their hand" and
can provide valuable insights into desert history, geology, flora and
fauna.The search for Cambyses' lost army is "just a theme," he says,
insisting clients are aware that the chance of actually finding 50,000
desiccated soldiers and the bleached-white bones of their pack animals
is remote. Instead, they hope to find traces like clay water vessels,
trail markers, discarded weapons and - if lucky - the remains of a
stray soldier.
Rival outfit Zarzora Expeditions is promoting similar themed trips,
with itineraries that trace the steps of 19th Century German explorer
Gerhard Rohlfs as well as Hungarian spy Count Laszlo Almasy (upon whom
the 1996 film The English Patient was loosely based). The firm is also
hoping to put together its own quest for Cambyses' lost army."It is an
irresistible marketing tool," says Wael Abed, the company's general
manager.
SANDSTORMS 101
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/sandstorms-on-earth/2353
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/worst_case_scenarios/1289311.html
Worst-Case Scenarios: How To Survive A Sandstorm
You're traveling through the Iraqi desert to Baghdad to work on a
reconstruction project. Up ahead is a huge cloud moving low over the
ground. Uh-oh--a sandstorm. There's no place to seek shelter. What
should you do?
- Wet a bandanna or other cloth and place it over your nose and mouth.
Use a small amount of petroleum jelly to coat the inside of your
nostrils. The lubricant will help minimize the drying of mucous
membranes.
- All members of a group should stay together : Link arms or use a
rope to avoid becoming separated during the storm and to keep track of
group members who otherwise could become injured or incapacitated.
- If driving in a car, pull off the road and onto the shoulder as far
as possible. Turn off your lights, set the emergency brake, and make
sure your taillights are not illuminated. Due to poor visibility,
vehicles approaching from the rear in a sandstorm have been known to
inadvertently leave the road and, "guided" by the taillights, collide
with a parked car.
- Try to move to higher ground : Sand grains travel across the surface
of the Earth mostly by saltation, or bouncing from place to place.
Because grains of sand will not bounce high on grass, dirt or sand,
moving to solid high ground is advisable, even if it's just a few feet
higher. However, sandstorms can be accompanied by severe
thunderstorms, in which case there may be a risk of lightning. If you
hear thunder or see lightning, do not move to high ground.
- Be Aware : Whenever you are in an area with sandstorm potential
(basically, any place where there is a lot of sand and wind), wear
long pants, socks and shoes. Because of the way sand moves, your feet
and legs are more likely than the upper part of your body to be
"burned" by the abrasive grains of sand.
VANISHED 2,500 YEAR OLD PERSIAN ARMY FOUND IN EGYPTIAN DESERT?
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/cambyses-lost-army-images.html
http://news.discovery.com/videos/archaeology-ancient-lost-army-found.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ENizFYf96Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzsi1LFZV4w
http://www.archeologiaviva.tv/tv/video/80
THE LOST ARMY OF CAMBYSES
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/cambyses-army-remains-sahara.html
Bones, jewelry and weapons found in Egyptian desert may be the remains
of Cambyses' army that vanished 2,500 years ago
BY Rossella Lorenzi / Nov 08, 2009
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 researchers. 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 of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were
said to be 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.
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.
A century after Herodotus wrote his account, Alexander the Great made
his own pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun, and in 332 B.C. he won the
oracle's confirmation that he was the divine son of Zeus, the Greek
god equated with Amun. 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.
Presented recently at the archaeological film festival of Rovereto,
the discovery is the result of 13 years of research and five
expeditions to the desert. "It all started in 1996, during an
expedition aimed at investigating the presence of iron meteorites near
Bahrin, one small oasis not far from Siwa," Alfredo Castiglioni,
director of the Eastern Desert Research Center (CeRDO) in Varese, told
Discovery News.
While working in the area, the researchers noticed a half-buried pot
and some human remains. Then the brothers spotted something really
intriguing -- what could have been a natural shelter. It was a rock
about 35 meters (114.8 feet) long, 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in height and
3 meters (9.8 feet) deep. Such natural formations occur in the desert,
but this large rock was the only one in a large area. "Its size and
shape made it the perfect refuge in a sandstorm," Castiglioni said.
Right there, the metal detector of Egyptian geologist Aly Barakat of
Cairo University located relics of ancient warfare: a bronze dagger
and several arrow tips. "We are talking of small items, but they are
extremely important as they are the first Achaemenid objects, thus
dating to Cambyses' time, which have emerged from the desert sands in
a location quite close to Siwa," Castiglioni said.
About a quarter mile from the natural shelter, the Castiglioni team
found a silver bracelet, an earring and few spheres which were likely
part of a necklace. "An analysis of the earring, based on photographs,
indicate that it certainly dates to the Achaemenid period. Both the
earring and the spheres appear to be made of silver. Indeed a very
similar earring, dating to the fifth century B.C., has been found in a
dig in Turkey," Andrea Cagnetti, a leading expert of ancient jewelry,
told Discovery News.
In the following years, the Castiglioni brothers studied ancient maps
and came to the conclusion that Cambyses' army did not take the widely
believed caravan route via the Dakhla Oasis and Farafra Oasis. "Since
the 19th century, many archaeologists and explorers have searched for
the lost army along that route. They found nothing. We hypothesized a
different itinerary, coming from south. Indeed we found that such a
route already existed in the 18th Dynasty," Castiglioni said.
According to Castiglioni, from El Kargha the army took a westerly
route to Gilf El Kebir, passing through the Wadi Abd el Melik, then
headed north toward Siwa. "This route had the advantage of taking the
enemy aback. Moreover, the army could march undisturbed. On the
contrary, since the oasis on the other route were controlled by the
Egyptians, the army would have had to fight at each oasis,"
Castiglioni said. To test their hypothesis, the Castiglioni brothers
did geological surveys along that alternative route. They found
desiccated water sources and artificial wells made of hundreds of
water pots buried in the sand. Such water sources could have made a
march in the desert possible. "Termoluminescence has dated the pottery
to 2,500 years ago, which is in line with Cambyses' time," Castiglioni
said.
In their last expedition in 2002, the Castiglioni brothers returned to
the location of their initial discovery. Right there, some 100 km (62
miles) south of Siwa, ancient maps had erroneously located the temple
of Amun. The soldiers believed they had reached their destination, but
instead they found the khamsin -- the hot, strong, unpredictable
southeasterly wind that blows from the Sahara desert over Egypt. "Some
soldiers found refuge under that natural shelter, other dispersed in
various directions. Some might have reached the lake of Sitra, thus
surviving," Castiglioni said.
At the end of their expedition, the team decided to investigate
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. "We learned that the remains had been exposed by tomb robbers
and that a beautiful sword which was found among the bones was sold to
American tourists," Castiglioni said. Among the bones, a number of
Persian arrow heads and a horse bit, identical to one appearing in a
depiction of an ancient Persian horse, emerged. "In the desolate
wilderness of the desert, we have found the most precise location
where the tragedy occurred," Del Bufalo said. The team communicated
their finding to the Geological Survey of Egypt and gave the recovered
objects to the Egyptian authorities. "We never heard back. I'm sure
that the lost army is buried somewhere around the area we surveyed,
perhaps under five meters (16.4 feet) of sand."
Mosalam Shaltout, professor of solar physics at the National Research
Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Helwan, Cairo, believes it is
very likely that the army took an alternative western route to reach
Siwa. "I think it depended on their bad planning for sufficient water
and meals during the long desert route and most of all by the
occurrence of an eruptive Kamassen sandy winds for more than one day,"
Shaltout told Discovery News. Piero Pruneti, editor of Archeologia
Viva, Italy's most important archaeology magazine, is also impressed
by the team's work. "Judging from their documentary, the Castiglioni's
have made a very promising finding," Prunetic told Discovery News.
"Indeed, their expeditions are all based on a careful study of the
landscape... An in-depth exploration of the area is certainly needed!"
MISSING IN ACTION
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/the-quest-for-cambyses-lost-army.html
BY Rossella Lorenzi / Nov 09, 2009
Indeed, many archaeologists and adventures have been scouring the
desert, dreaming of solving the 2,500- year-old mystery. Already in
the 1800s, archaeology pioneer Giovanni Battista Belzoni explored the
desert in vain, searching for the lost army. Perhaps the most famous
desert explorer is the Austro-Hungarian Count László Almásy
(1895-1951), whose life provided inspiration for Anthony Minghella's
film The English Patient. In 1936, Almásy ventured into the desert in
search for clues of the vanished soldiers, but the Great Sand Sea’s
giant dunes and the khamsin -- the hot, strong, unpredictable
southeasterly wind that blows from the Sahara desert over Egypt --
stopped him. He re-emerged from the Saharan sands four days later --
miraculously alive.
In the last decade there have been several contrasting reports about
intriguing findings in the Western Egyptian desert. It all started
with reports about the 1996 Castiglioni brother expedition, and
continued with geologist Aly Barakat’s announcement of important
discoveries in the area around Bahrain. The revived interest over the
lost army continued in 2000: reports circulated that a Helwan
University geological team, prospecting for petroleum in the Western
Desert, had stumbled across scattered human bones and ancient warfare
relics such as daggers and arrowheads. Announcements of future serious
investigation by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA)
followed, but any information about that research has yet to be
published.
In 2003, geologist Tom Bown, accompanied by archaeologist Gail
MacKinnon and a film crew, returned to the desert. Their search proved
inconclusive. In 2005, another follow-up expedition by a team from the
University of Toledo, Ohio, reached the area around Bahrain, but
failed to find any significant remains, apart from a large number of
fossilized sand dollars, which they believed could have been mistaken
for human bone fragments. Now twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo
Castiglioni (famous for their discovery 20 years ago of the ancient
Egyptian "city of gold" Berenike Panchrysos) have finally shown their
findings. Presented recently at the archaeological film festival of
Rovereto, the documentary is the result of 13 years of research and
five expeditions to the desert. Have they really located the remains
of the mighty Persian army? “We can't tell yet. But they have shown us
the first ever Achaemenid objects, thus dating to Cambyses' time, as
they emerged from the sands near Siwa. This is amazing and certainly
demands further research,” Piero Pruneti, editor of Archeologia Viva.
HERODOTUS
http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.3.iii.html
http://www.google.com/cse?cx=000823599697007823270%3Axvyeoc7qlza&ie=UTF-8&q=Cambyses+&sa=Search
http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/hist06.htm
http://www.thefoghornmagazine.com/fact-block-2.php
http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/herodotus/cambyses.htm
[3.26.1] "So fared the expedition against Ethiopia. As for those who
were sent to march against the Ammonians, they set out and journeyed
from Thebes with guides; and it is known that they came to the city of
Oasis, inhabited by Samians said to be of the Aeschrionian tribe,
seven days' march from Thebes across sandy desert; this place is
called, in the Greek language, Islands of the Blest. [3.26.2] Thus
far, it is said, the army came; after that, except for the Ammonians
themselves and those who heard from them, no man can say anything of
them; for they neither reached the Ammonians nor returned back.
[3.26.3] But this is what the Ammonians themselves say: when the
Persians were crossing the sand from Oasis (probably the oasis of
Kargeh) to attack them, and were about midway between their country
and Oasis, while they were breakfasting a great and violent south wind
arose, which buried them in the masses of sand which it bore; and so
they disappeared from sight. Such is the Ammonian tale about this
army."
CAMBYSES II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambyses_of_Persia#The_Lost_Army_of_Cambyses
http://www.livius.org/caa-can/cambyses_ii/cambyses_ii.html
http://touregypt.net/featurestories/cambyses2.htm
NOW LONG DEAD
http://www.chnpress.com/news/?section=2&id=6865
Discovered Stone Slab Proved to be Gate of Cambyses’ Tomb
BY Maryam Tabeshian / 13 December 2006
A huge stone slab discovered accidentally last year was proved to have
once been the entrance gate to the mausoleum of Cambyses II, son and
successor of Cyrus the Great. Agricultural activities by local farmers
near the world heritage site of Pasargadae last year resulted in the
accidental discovery of a big stone slab bearing some carvings typical
of Pasargadae monuments. The discovered slab was recently proved by
archeologists to have been the entrance gate to the mausoleum of
Cambyses II, son and successor of Cyrus the Great, founder of the
Achameneid Empire (550-330 BC). “A huge stone slab measuring 1.60
meters in height comprised of 5 broken pieces was discovered last
March by farmers at a distance of 100 meters from Tall-e Takht and was
immediately transferred to Parse-Pasargadae Research Center to be
studied by archeologists,” said Afshin Yazdani, archeologist of Parse-
Pasargadae Research Center.
Tall-e Takht or ‘throne hill’ is a citadel located at the heart of
Pasargadae historical complex, the first dynastic capital of the
Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great, in Fars province.
Remains of an unfinished tomb denoted to Achaemenid King Cambyses II
can be seen close to Tall-e Takht, from which only a wall has survived
the ravage of time. Based on studies by British archeologist David
Stronach, the Tomb, also known as Zendan-e Soleiman/Eskandar (Solomon/
Alexander Prison), originally consisted of an almost square, 4-meter-
high tower in which a solitary, raised room was approached by a
projecting monumental stone staircase. It resembles the Achaemenid era
monument of Zoroaster’s Kaba in Naqsh-e Rostam historical site.
According to Yazdani, the stones used in the gate of Cambyses’ tomb
are very similar to a stone slab discovered 50 years ago by
archeologists. At the time, Stronach proposed a theory that the stone
belonged to the mausoleum of Cambyses and drew a sketch of the
original gate which he believed to have had two leaves, each
comprising of 6 rectangular frames. He also drew 3 flowers each having
12 petals on the top and bottom of each frame. “As Stronach himself
was uncertain about his own drawing of the gate, recent discovery of
the gate proves his theory wrong. Based on the new studies, it became
known that the entrance gate of what is called Tomb of Cambyses was
made of two stone leaves each having two rectangular 35 by 59 cm
frames with three 12-petaled flowers on the top and bottom,” explained
Yazdani, adding that the height of each door leaf was found to be 1.75
meters - that is 8 centimeters shorter than the height of the wall.
Archeologists believe that the gate was made shorter on purpose to
allow circulation of air in and out of the mausoleum.
According to the inscriptions of Bisotun historic site, the mausoleum
of Cambyses was destroyed by the Mongol invader Geomat who disguised
himself as Bardia, King Cambyses’ brother and came to power shortly
after Cambyses’ assassination and razed down Achaemenid temples.
Achaemenid King Darius the Great clearly accounts in Bisotun
inscription that he restored the Achaemenid temples after murdering
Geomat. “Evidence left on the stone gate very well confirms that it
was restored during the early days of Darius the Great’s reign,” added
Yazdani. According to Yazdani, the new findings together with the fact
that a similar structure to the mausoleum of Cambyses, Zoroaster’s
Kaba, was built also by Darius the Great at Naqsh-e Rostam, proved
that it was a temple whereas it had previously been variously regarded
as either a tomb, or a fire temple, or a depository.
Cambyses was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great who ruled the
Persian Empire from the death of his father in 530 BC to his own death
in Ecbatane (Syria) eight years later. During his reign, Cambyses
continued the politic of expansion started by his father. First, he
took part with his father to the conquest of Babylonia and was named
King of Babylon after he captured the city in 539. After rising to the
throne, he invaded Egypt in 525 BC, putting an end to the 26th Dynasty
of the Pharaohs and beginning a period of Persian rule that covered
much of the next two centuries.
Cambyses later personally led a force up the Nile to conquer Ethiopia,
but after annexing the north of the country, he ran short of supplies
and had to return. While on his way back from Egypt with his army in
522 BC, Cambyses was assassinated upon order of one of his brothers,
Smerdis, which he himself tried to have assassinated. At his death,
after a short period during which Smerdis assumed the leadership, more
palace struggles led to the rise to the throne of Darius the Great,
whose task was to organize such a vast empire. The mausoleum of the
son and successor of Cyrus the Great, Persian King Cambyses II, was
also registered with other ancient monuments of Pasargadae historic
complex in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1979.
'RAN SHORT ON SUPPLIES' AS IN
'DREW STRAWS AND ATE EACH OTHER'
http://mitchtestone.blogspot.com/2008/10/lost-army-of-cambyses-redux.html
Cambyses II was the emperor of Persia (ruled 530–522 BCE) and
successor to Cyrus the Great. Eager to emulate his father’s deeds of
conquest, and to extend Persian rule across all the known nations (ie
civilisations) of the world, Cambyses invaded Egypt in 525 BCE,
defeating the last true Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus III. Yet today
he is remembered not for his feats of conquest, but for his lost army
– a force of 50,000 warriors, dispatched to conquer a tiny oasis
kingdom, that vanished into the desert and was lost without a single
survivor or the slightest trace being discovered for more than 2,000
years.
Herodotus and Cambyses
The primary source for the tale of Cambyses and his lost army is the
ancient Greek traveller and historian Herodotus, an intrepid man who
travelled all over Egypt just 75 years after the Persian invasion.
Herodotus followed in Cambyses’ footsteps and recorded the local tales
and histories of the invader. Unfortunately his impartiality is
questionable; he had the typical ancient Greek antipathy towards the
Persians and his Histories slander Cambyses remorselessly, painting
him as a despot, madman and general ne’er-do-well. Herodotus first
recounts how Cambyses managed to cross the difficult Sinai desert
region and meet the Egyptians with his army intact, which is relevant
because it shows that the Persians were capable of coping with desert
transits. They recruited Arabian tribes to create water depots at
regular spots along the route – in effect, artificial oases – and in
this manner were able to arrive at the battle site in good order and
defeat Psammetichus.
Later, Cambyses travelled to the major Egyptian cult centres to be
crowned pharaoh but, according to Herodotus, made only a perfunctory
effort to learn about or pay respect to their customs. He then decided
to launch military expeditions against the Ethiopians (to the south),
the Carthaginians (along the coast to the west) and the ‘Ammoniums’ –
ie the inhabitants of the Siwa Oasis, a small fertile enclave deep
within the Western Desert, which was famous for the Oracle of the
Temple of Ammon (the Siwan name for the Egyptian god Amun-Ra, whom the
Greeks equated with Zeus). The priests of the temple were used to
commanding respect from Egypt’s rulers, who were supposed to obtain
‘divine’ favour to legitimise their overlordship. Alexander the Great
made sure to do this when he conquered Egypt 200 years later, but
Cambyses, it seems, failed to follow the proper forms and disdained
the Siwans.
The Siwan expedition
Cambyses took his army south along the Nile to launch his Ethiopian
expedition, stopping at Thebes to detach a force to send to Siwa in
524 BCE. According to Herodotus, in Book III of his Histories, an army
of 50,000 men was ordered to ‘enslave the Ammonians and burn the
oracle of Zeus’. Led by guides, the army set off into the desert,
reaching ‘the city of Oasis’, known to the Greeks as ‘The Isles of the
Blest’ (modern-day Kharga), seven days’ march to the west. After this,
they were never seen again, although the Siwans themselves were
somehow able to give Herodotus a rough account of what happened next:
"this is what the Ammonians themselves say: when the Persians were
crossing the sand from the Oasis to attack them, and were about midway
between … [Siwa] and the Oasis, while they were breakfasting a great
and violent south wind arose, which buried them in the masses of sand
which it bore; and so they disappeared from sight. Such is the
Ammonian tale about this army."
This is the full extent of what we know about the lost army, which has
led many scholars to doubt the episode ever happened. Perhaps
Herodotus was simply inventing the tale to make Cambyses look more
foolish. Why would the Persian emperor waste his time launching a
strike on Siwa? Why would he send such a huge army to conquer such a
small place (probably only a few thousand residents at most)? Above
all, why would he send them via such a perilous route with so little
preparation or precaution?
Herodotus himself suggests, albeit indirectly, some of the answers. A
possible motive for the expedition is that Cambyses was angered by the
attitude of the priests of the Temple of Ammon, who – themselves angry
at a perceived lack of due deference – may have been spreading the
word that his kingship was illegitimate. They may even have predicted
his death. Herodotus also drives home the point that Cambyses was an
irascible drunk, given to fits of spite and cruel rage, and quite
capable of nursing a lethal grudge. He was also unhinged enough to
doom his men with inadequate planning and preparation.
An alternative explanation is that Siwa was only intended as a way
point on a longer journey. Perhaps the real targets were lands further
to the west. Cambyses’ intended assault on Carthage had been called
off because the Phoenicians who provided his navy refused to move
against their kin who had set up the colony at Carthage. Perhaps he
intended to approach them by land instead – this would account for the
apparently disproportionate size of the expeditionary force. If
Herodotus is right, the Persian army met a bleak end. The region they
were travelling across includes barren depressions of bare rock and
boulders; wind-sculpted buttes; plains of salt and dust; vast sand
seas of impassable dunes; searing desert winds hotter than 40°C that
blow for days on end; massive sand storms that will bury anything that
stands still; and an utter absence of water. How the Ammonians knew
the fate of the lost army is unclear, given that they specifically
told Herodotus that not one soldier had reached Siwa, but perhaps they
simply assumed the most likely scenario.
The army in the desert
Apart from being a great unsolved mystery, the miserable desert fate
of the lost army of Cambyses also presents the intriguing likelihood
that there could be a huge find of skeletons, armour, clothing,
weapons and equipment from the ancient Persian era awaiting discovery.
The army would have included in its number soldiers from many
different parts of the antique world. In the uniquely arid conditions,
with the possibility that sand may have covered and protected, the
remains could be amazingly well preserved. There could be an
archaeological treasure trove somewhere in the Sahara.
Hard target
Herodotus provides a few clues about the possible location of the lost
army, describing the army’s route from the oasis known as ‘Island of
the Blest’, which is today a major agricultural town known as Kharga.
From here they would presumably have tried to follow the traditional
caravan route to Siwa, which goes via the oases at Dakhla (a few
hundred kilometres to the west) and then Farafra (a few hundred more
to the north-west). From Herodotus’ account it sounds as though the
Persians may have got to Dakhla or even Farafra, but were then lost as
they attempted to complete the final leg of the journey. Even
narrowing it down this far, however, leaves a dauntingly vast area to
examine. If the Persians got lost out of Dakhla and started going in
the wrong direction they could have ended up pretty much anywhere in
the Western Desert. The Western Desert is one of the hardest places in
the world to be looking for lost relics. It is vast, covering about
two-thirds of modern-day Egypt: an area of 680,000 square kilometres
(263,000 square miles), equal to the combined size of Austria,
Belgium, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. The
conditions, as described above, are incredibly harsh and desolate.
Even modern vehicles with four-wheel drives and special equipment
cannot cope with some of the dunes found in the sand seas. Much of the
area is restricted owing to the security issues of the region:
millions of landmines from World War II, the proximity of the border
with Libya and sensitivities about oil operations and terrorism. And
there is always the likelihood that any finds that are stumbled across
will soon be covered up by the shifting desert sands, never to be seen
again.
The enigmatic Count Almásy
Undaunted, many desert adventurers have dreamed of solving the mystery
of the lost army. Probably the most famous was the Austro-Hungarian
playboy, pilot and desert explorer Count László Almásy, whose life and
times provided the model for the Ralph Fiennes character in The
English Patient. Almásy started off as a self-taught dabbler in the
exotic world of desert discovery, but his expertise with motor
vehicles and his reckless disregard for personal safety led him to
pull off some amazing escapades. During the 1930s he was part of a
crowd mainly composed of genteel British officers interested in desert
travel and exploration, who were primarily fixated on locating the
semi-legendary Zerzura, the Oasis of Little Birds, alluded to in
medieval writings. Almásy amazed the other members of the Zerzura
Club, as they had named themselves, by successfully discovering this
hidden oasis, but his search for Cambyses’ army was less successful
and even more dangerous. Almásy was an avid fan of Herodotus, and in
1936 determined to follow the tracks of the army as described by the
ancient Greek. His journey is described by Saul Kelly in the book The
Lost Oasis: The Desert War and the Hunt for Zerzura. Kelly tells how
on a previous expedition Almásy had discovered pottery fragments that
suggested how the Persians had hoped to cross the waterless desert. By
burying huge caches of amphorae (jars) along the intended route, and
employing local tribesmen to ferry water to them, they could effect a
similar operation to their successful crossing of the Sinai.
This at least was Almásy’s theory, but when he ventured into the
desert from Farafra on his 1936 expedition, he discovered not caches
of jars but a series of cairns that he described as ‘ancient hollow,
circular pyramids of stone about the height of a man’, which seemed to
mark the route across the forbidding sand seas. Perhaps the Persians
had employed scouts to build them, hoping to follow them all the way
to Siwa. Kelly relates that the Almásy party then ran into problems
that gave him an insight into the probable fate of Cambyses’ force.
Their progress was halted by impassable giant dunes, and the hot
desert wind called the khamsin (or khamaseen) blew up, whipping their
vehicles with scalding, 44°C+ storm-force winds. All but one of the
vehicles broke down and they were lucky to make it out of the desert
alive in the third, following a corridor between two towering dunes
until they reached Siwa four days later. Almásy planned a further
expedition, but war broke out and he never got another chance.
Disputed discoveries
In the last decade there have been some slightly confused reports
about discoveries in the Western Desert that sound almost too good to
be true. According to Professor Mosalam Shaltout, chairman of the
Space Research Center at the Desert Environment Research Institute of
Egypt’s Minufiya University, an Italian-led expedition in December
1996 which was surveying for meteorites stumbled across archaeological
remains in the El Bahrein Oasis area of the Western Desert. Aly
Barakat, a geologist with the team, found a dagger blade and hilt,
pottery shards, apparently human bone fragments, burial mounds,
arrowheads and a silver bracelet, which, on the basis of a photograph,
was identified as ‘most likely belonging to the Achaemenid period’ (ie
ancient Persian).
Meanwhile, in 2000 there were widespread reports that a team of oil-
prospecting geologists, said to be from Helwan University, in Cairo,
had stumbled across similar finds in the same area, spotting scattered
arrow heads and human bones. In 2003 geologist Tom Bown led an
expedition to the area, accompanied by archaeologist Gail MacKinnon
and a film crew, to follow up Aly Barakat’s discoveries, which they,
controversially, said had been suppressed by the Egyptian authorities.
Bown claimed to have found remains at the same site, near the El
Bahrein Oasis, at a place later named Wadi Mastour, the Hidden Valley.
In fact he reportedly went as far as describing seeing thousands of
bones littering the desert. Yet another follow-up expedition in 2005,
however, cast serious doubt on the claims of both Barakat and Bown. A
team from the University of Toledo, in Ohio, together with British and
Egyptian associates, travelled to the site near El Bahrein. They
located a broken pot found by both Barakat and Bown, although they
identified it as Roman, but they failed to find any other suggestive
remains beyond a few burial sites, which they claim are common in the
desert. Instead of fields of scattered human bones they found large
numbers of fragments of fossilised sand dollars (sea urchin-like
creatures that leave distinctive round calcite cases), which are
apparently easy to mistake for human bones and could explain the
previous claims.
Can Herodotus be trusted?
So despite tantalising claims and hints, the lost army of Cambyses has
apparently not been found yet, nor any definitive proof that it really
existed. The cairns and pottery found by Almásy and the weapons and
bones allegedly seen by Barakat and Bown may not be what they seem, or
perhaps they simply belong to some of the many other groups who have
made the perilous desert crossing – for instance, the notorious Forty
Days Road slave caravan used to follow the route through the Western
Desert via Kharga. Ultimately the credibility of the tale comes down
to Herodotus. In this sense he was not highly regarded even by other
ancient writers, some of whom felt the sobriquet ‘the Father of
History’ bestowed upon him by Cicero should be changed to ‘the Father
of Lies’. As already noted, he was biased against the Persians and his
portrait of Cambyses has a touch of the pantomime villain. In fact it
seems from other contemporary sources that many groups in Egypt
welcomed the invader, and an inscription specifically records Cambyses
as honouring the Egyptian religion and customs in a praiseworthy
manner. This does not mean that Herodotus made up the story about the
lost army, or even that his sources deceived him, but it does add
another layer of uncertainty to an already difficult search. Should
you choose to believe him, however, you may be able to join the hunt
yourself. In 2004 a tour operator called Aqua Sun Desert set up a
desert safari to explore the Western Desert area around Dakhla,
Farafra, Siwa and El Bahrein and to look for evidence of the lost
army. It was reported at the time that the tours would continue for
five years. As Aqua Sun manager Hisham Nessim says, ‘If we discover
anything about the lost army, it will be the discovery of the
century.’
SIWA
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=siwa+egypt&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&gl=us&ei=J5f4SrfRBYOesgPdqpC1CQ&ved=0CAsQ8gEwAA&hq=&hnear=Siwa,+Marsa+Matrouh,+Egypt&ll=28.620693,26.345215&spn=1.381451,2.903137&t=h&z=9
PREVIOUSLY
http://www.archaeology.org/0009/newsbriefs/cambyses.html
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200407/highlights/234406.htm
CONTACT
Angelo + Alfredo Castiglioni
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_e_Alfredo_Castiglioni
email : Alfredo_Castiglioni [at] virgilio [dot] it
BIOS
http://www.pulpinternational.com/pulp/entry/Lobby-cards-from-Castiglioni-shockumentaries.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondo_film#The_Castiglioni_Brothers
http://www.cigv.it/gallery/Berenice
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2462518
http://web.archive.org/web/20060808213900/http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12837694/
http://www.castellodellacecchignola.it/delbufalo.html
http://www.dariodelbufalo.it/
DISSENT
http://rogueclassicism.com/2009/11/13/cambyses-lost-army-found-dont-eat-that-elmer/
http://egyptology.blogspot.com/2009/11/lost-army-and-other-sites-mentioned.html
http://rambambashi.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/cambyses-not-so-lost-army/
Cambyses’ Still Lost Army
There are two reasons to be suspicious. In the first place, Herodotus
is not a very reliable author. Not because he is not interested in the
truth: on the contrary, he is certainly one of the most truthloving
writers of the ancient world. But it was hard to get correct
information, and Herodotus was standing in a tradition that
appreciated an artful presentation. So, in his Histories, Xerxes‘
failed expedition is mirrored by the failures of earlier Persian
rulers. So, Herodotus says that Cyrus was defeated by the Massagetes
(according to Xenophon, Cyrus died of natural causes); that Darius
lost a navy in a storm at the Athos; that Darius also lost an army
during a Scythian campaign; and that Cambyses lost an army in the
desert. These stories are not necessarily untrue, but the repetition
makes one suspicious. I would not be surprised if some of these
stories were created by Herodotus because he believed they had to have
happened.
But even if we assume that Cambyses sent out an expedition to the
Oracle of Ammon, there is still a reason not to believe the claim by
our two Italian archaeologists. What they have found, or claim to have
found, is a set of Persian weapons (e.g., arrowheads), skulls, and
bones. Even if we assume that they are indeed Persian, it is a serious
logical fallacy to assume that they belong to soldiers of Cambyses’
campaign. The Persians controled Egypt for more than a century (from
525 to c.401) and there must have been dozens of occasions on which
soldiers were sent to the west. All these expeditions may have found
itself lost in the western desert. What archaeologists can find, is
evidence that a Persian army got into trouble; but stating that the
finds belonged to a particular expedition is introducing a secundum
quid. I think we must be suspicious.
ARCHEOLOGICAL TOURISM
http://www.egypttoday.com/issues/0401/4E76/04014E76.asp
Safari Operator's Tours to dig for lost Army
by Maria on Jan 03, 2004
Tourism companies, however, see it as a potential cash cow. "It is a
great opportunity," says Hisham Nessim, manager of Aqua Sun Resort.
"We will give tourists a chance to participate in solving this ancient
mystery and we will sell it as a touristic product." Nessim, a former
desert rally driver, leads the Egyptian Exploration Desert Team
(EEDT), an exploratory "archaeological" mission funded entirely by
private tourism firms. The plan, approved by the Ministry of Tourism,
is to comb the Western Desert in 4WD vehicles packed with paying
tourists hot on the trail of Cambyses' army.
Archaeologists have reacted with suspicion and horror. "It's a very,
very bad idea," contends Salima Ikram, associate professor of
Egyptology at the American University in Cairo. "The more people go
trampling through the desert, the more they muck up the archaeological
evidence." A foreign archaeologist, preferring not to be named,
railed: "Do you think that if they find anything they will leave it
intact? Of course not. They'll pick it up, manhandle it and take home
a few souvenirs. This is just the sort of sh-t we don't need."
Nessim brushes off his critics, who he says are blowing things out of
proportion. Hundreds of desert safari expeditions take tourists to the
Western Desert each year. The only difference here is that the
safari's route winds through areas deemed likely to contain remains of
the lost army. Any evidence discovered will be referred to experts for
analysis. "My license is not to dig, so if I find something I must
report it to the authorities," Nessim says, indicating that the
Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has no objections to the project.
So far, Aqua Sun and co-sponsor Emeco Travel have organized two
expeditions. Neither trip, each of which went ahead despite last-
minute cancellations, made significant discoveries.
"We still have far to go. This secret has been hidden for over 2,000
years and we can't expect to find it in just two trips," says Nessim,
who is reportedly cooperating with US space agency NASA to prepare a
route for a third mission. "There are some places on the ground that I
suspect and they [NASA] will check with satellites."Remote sensors
will also scan an area 50 km southwest of Siwa Oasis, where a Helwan
University geological team prospecting for oil in 2000 discovered
human bones, arrow-heads, frayed textiles and daggers in the dunes.
The find sent shivers of excitement through the archaeological
community, but an SCA team dispatched to excavate found nothing at the
GPS coordinates they were given. The sand may have simply swallowed
the evidence.
"The dunes in the Great Sand Sea move about 30-50 cm a year to the
south and southeast because of the prevailing wind," explains
geologist and EEDT guide Bahei El-Asawi. "It's hard to find anything,
because the sand can cover one area and expose another." The nature of
the desert adds a challenge, says desert safari specialist Hani Zaki
of Emeco Tours, who compares the search for Cambyses' army to finding
a needle in a haystack. "When you're in the Great Sand Sea you can
look 360 and all you see is sand. There are no landmarks, mountains or
anything," he says. "You don't see anybody and there is almost no sign
of life, but there is plenty of natural beauty."
EEDT expeditions run between 10 and 22 days, traversing parts of the
most beautiful and inhospitable desert in the world. The team's 4WD
vehicles are specially equipped for deep desert exploration, carrying
extra fuel, water, rations, parts and GPS equipment. "There's always a
risk, but it's greater if you're not following the rules, are not well-
equipped or don't have experience," says Zaki. "Without risk it's not
an adventure. Our role is to avoid major risks and minimize minor
ones." While Zaki is apologetic that the EEDT team does not include a
professional archaeologist, he strongly rejects arguments that
tourists are being deceived. Clients do not sign up for an
archaeological dig, he says, they come to explore the desert with
veteran guides "who know the desert like the back of their hand" and
can provide valuable insights into desert history, geology, flora and
fauna.The search for Cambyses' lost army is "just a theme," he says,
insisting clients are aware that the chance of actually finding 50,000
desiccated soldiers and the bleached-white bones of their pack animals
is remote. Instead, they hope to find traces like clay water vessels,
trail markers, discarded weapons and - if lucky - the remains of a
stray soldier.
Rival outfit Zarzora Expeditions is promoting similar themed trips,
with itineraries that trace the steps of 19th Century German explorer
Gerhard Rohlfs as well as Hungarian spy Count Laszlo Almasy (upon whom
the 1996 film The English Patient was loosely based). The firm is also
hoping to put together its own quest for Cambyses' lost army."It is an
irresistible marketing tool," says Wael Abed, the company's general
manager.
SANDSTORMS 101
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/sandstorms-on-earth/2353
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/worst_case_scenarios/1289311.html
Worst-Case Scenarios: How To Survive A Sandstorm
You're traveling through the Iraqi desert to Baghdad to work on a
reconstruction project. Up ahead is a huge cloud moving low over the
ground. Uh-oh--a sandstorm. There's no place to seek shelter. What
should you do?
- Wet a bandanna or other cloth and place it over your nose and mouth.
Use a small amount of petroleum jelly to coat the inside of your
nostrils. The lubricant will help minimize the drying of mucous
membranes.
- All members of a group should stay together : Link arms or use a
rope to avoid becoming separated during the storm and to keep track of
group members who otherwise could become injured or incapacitated.
- If driving in a car, pull off the road and onto the shoulder as far
as possible. Turn off your lights, set the emergency brake, and make
sure your taillights are not illuminated. Due to poor visibility,
vehicles approaching from the rear in a sandstorm have been known to
inadvertently leave the road and, "guided" by the taillights, collide
with a parked car.
- Try to move to higher ground : Sand grains travel across the surface
of the Earth mostly by saltation, or bouncing from place to place.
Because grains of sand will not bounce high on grass, dirt or sand,
moving to solid high ground is advisable, even if it's just a few feet
higher. However, sandstorms can be accompanied by severe
thunderstorms, in which case there may be a risk of lightning. If you
hear thunder or see lightning, do not move to high ground.
- Be Aware : Whenever you are in an area with sandstorm potential
(basically, any place where there is a lot of sand and wind), wear
long pants, socks and shoes. Because of the way sand moves, your feet
and legs are more likely than the upper part of your body to be
"burned" by the abrasive grains of sand.
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