The bone that proves Hannibal really DID cross the Alps with elephants

"While the bone was worn and poorly preserved, archaeologists managed to identify its origin by comparing it with modern elephant and mammoth bones. Despite there not being enough DNA to confirm the exact species, the researchers were able to carbon date a tiny sample of the bone. This places the elephant's death between the late fourth and early third centuries BC - right in the middle of the Second Punic War."

"During the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian general Hannibal famously used enormous beasts of war to devastating effect against the Roman forces. One of the Carthaginians' most notorious strategies was the use of war elephants - specially trained and armoured African forest elephants that trampled through enemy soldiers. During the Second Punic War, Hannibal led an army of over 30,000 infantrymen, 7,000 cavalrymen, and 37 elephants up through Spain, across modern-day France, and over the Alps to appear in Italy's lightly defended north."

Archaeologists discovered a 10-centimetre cube bone beneath a room at the Córdoba Provincial Hospital. The bone is identified as a carpal bone from the right forefoot of an elephant. Identification relied on comparisons with elephant and mammoth bones because DNA preservation was insufficient. Radiocarbon dating of a tiny sample dates the bone to between the late fourth and early third centuries BC, aligning with the Second Punic War. Hannibal led a force with infantry, cavalry, and dozens of elephants across Spain, France, and the Alps into northern Italy. The bone provides rare physical evidence of war elephants used by Carthage.

Read at Mail Online