Cambyses' Lost Army: Found at Last? : Discovery News
There's been a lot of buzz the past week or so regarding the possible location of at least part of the lost army of Cambyses. Personally, I think it's far too early to make a definite statement for or against and, like so many others, I was intrigued to note that the initial press release was not organized through Egyptian channels as is standard for "big finds" in Egypt.
The slide-show from Discovery News is pretty nifty - I especially like the water pots. Also interesting to note is that the skeletal remains are described as (and appear in the photos) to be bleached. Until you work with skeletonized human remains from a variety of contexts, I don't think a lot of people realize the variation in color of bones that can occur based on funeral traditions, soil conditions, later disturbance, etc. etc. Kind of cool.
There are a few explanations for that. One is that they were left unburied after death for some time and allowed to bleach out in the sun, heat, and wind before being covered over either by humans or by natural processes. Another is that they were buried at some point by human or natural agency and then re-exposed at a later point. Whether they're part of the lost army, well, that's still in question.
There's a good summary of sources and basic info about the find, as well as a discussion of the possible ethical and legal ramifications of the Castaglioni find and whether their work was or was not sanctioned by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) over at Egyptology News.
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