The news has been making headlines the whole week. Well the Egyptology blog has the following today:
…an urgent announcement from the Supreme Council of Antiquities:
We need to inform you that recent reports published in newspapers, news agencies and TV news announcing that “twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni have unearthed remains of the Persian army of Cambyses,” are unfounded and misleading. The brothers are not heading any archaeological mission in Berenike Panchrysos at the small Bahrin Oasis near Siwa Oasis. This site has been excavated since 2002 by an Italian mission led by Dr. Paulo Gallo of Turin University.
The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has already informed the proper legal and security authorities in Egypt and are taking the necessary procedures.
One had a suspicion that something like this would be forthcoming!
As always, sensational finds get the warning bells going…
Thanks, this saves me a lot of work. I wanted to blog about (a) the fact that in Herodotus, the defeat of Cyrus against the Massagetes, Cambyses’ lost army, Darius’ Scythian defeat, and Darius’ lost fleet are echos of Xerxes’ losses, and (b) that finding Persian remains in the desert do not prove anything about a campaign.
No it doesn’t. The whole thing seemed flawed from the start anyway…