Students from the University of Barcelona reconstruct the route taken by Hannibal's troops on their way through Spain to Rome. Photo: University of Barcelona.
Posted on 01/29/2015 12:59:42 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Spanish archaeology students have discovered a 2,200-year-old moat in what is now the Catalan town of Valls, filled with objects providing evidence of the presence of troops of the Carthaginian general Hannibal in the area.
The moat, which surrounded the Iberian town of Vilar de Vals, contained coins and lead projectiles, researchers said in a statement.
It is estimated the moat could have had a width of 40 metres (131 feet), a depth of five metres, and a length of nearly half a kilometre.
Jaume Noguera from the Prehistory department at the University of Barcelona, and Jordi López, from the Catalan Institute of Classic Archeology... said the site may have been destroyed by the Romans during the Second Punic War (218-202 BC) that pitted Rome against Carthage for the hegemony of the Mediterranean.
Hannibal, one of the most famous military commanders in history, crossed the Pyrenees with his soldiers and elephants, traversing the Iberian Peninsula, before reaching present-day Italy in 218 BC.
He left around 11,000 men in Spain to protect his interests in the north of Iberia and to guarantee a regular source of food and weapons to his troops.
But Roman legionnaires, led by general Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, defeated Hannibal's men in Iberia. After the battle, the Romans raided a nearby Carthaginian camp, located on the edge of a town, and destroyed everything.
The camp and town were located in modern-day Valls in Catalonia, where the group of archaeology students from the University of Barcelona made the discovery.
They tested the age of the moat using electrical resistivity tomography, a technique that involves analyzing sub-surface structures from electrical resistivity measurements made at the surface.
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.es ...
Students from the University of Barcelona reconstruct the route taken by Hannibal's troops on their way through Spain to Rome. Photo: University of Barcelona.
They found a soldier still sitting on the elephant.
Hope they didn’t have to march behind the elephants.
“contained ... lead projectiles,”
These were known to the Romans as the deadly “HANNIBULLETS”, made from depleted lead & could go right thru a Roman HumVIII.
The Slain in Spain Fell Mainly on the Plain
To judge by his record, Chosen Primus Pilus, the Romans were Bad dudes.
You forgot the drummer to provide the rim shots.
I understand Moe Howard now. ;')
What an exciting find!
I’ve often wondered how much is left in the so-far-unidentified mass burials after large battles, for example those reported in Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, or the Civil Wars. Of course, finding the actual sites is tricky. From the Second Punic War:
http://thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.com/2013/07/armageddon-on-aufidus-locating-battle.html
That explains a lot.
Interesting, I also studied a lot Roman history in most of my ancient History classes in HS and in college, and the 2nd Punic war was one of my favorite periods in Roman history to study.
I don’t have the link handy but there is a good BBC documentary on you tube called Hannibal The Nightmare Of Rome, very good for a docudrama.
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