Elephant Bone Discovery in Spain Could Rewrite Hannibal’s War History
A 2,200-Year-Old Bone Unearthed in Spain
A bone discovered in Spain may be from one of Hannibal’s war elephants that played a significant role during the Second Punic War. This discovery, detailed in a recent study, could provide crucial evidence about the use of these massive creatures in ancient warfare.
The bone, roughly the size of a baseball, was found near the southern Spanish city of Córdoba. According to the study published in the February issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, this could be the only direct evidence of the Carthaginian general’s war elephants. Historically, 37 of these powerful pachyderms accompanied Hannibal and his army as they traversed Iberia, crossed the Pyrenees into southern Gaul, and eventually made their way through the Alps into Italy to attack Rome.
Until now, the strongest archaeological evidence of their journey was the disturbed earth and other traces left by the elephants passing through an alpine pass on what is now the French and Italian border.
Rafael MartÃnez Sánchez, an archaeologist at the University of Córdoba and the study’s first author, described the bone as potentially “a landmark” in understanding the use of these animals. He noted that until now, there had been no direct archaeological evidence of their deployment.
The mysterious bone was unearthed in 2019 and initially puzzled scientists because it did not match any known native animal. It was later identified as an elephant’s right carpal bone — the equivalent of the wrist in humans. Researchers believe this particular elephant was brought to the area by the Carthaginians as a war beast.
The Celtic Stronghold
The bone was found during excavations at the site of a fortified Iberian village. The layer of earth where the bone was discovered was radiocarbon-dated to around 2,250 years ago, which predates the Roman control of the region starting around 150 B.C. These fortified settlements, known as oppida, were commonly used by the ancient Celts and often built on hilltops for defense. However, this site was located in a defensible bend of a river.
Carthage, an ancient city-state on the coast of modern-day Tunisia, began as a Phoenician colony and was feared for its powerful fleet of warships. Its armies were also formidable, and Carthage used war elephants in both the First and Second Punic Wars against the Roman Republic. These conflicts were largely fought over control of strategic regions in the western Mediterranean.
It appears that a Carthaginian army was stationed nearby during the Second Punic War (218 to 201 B.C.) and was involved in a battle at the ancient fortified village near Córdoba. The researchers suggest that the elephant was killed during the fighting. Additional signs of military conflict at the site included 12 spherical stones believed to be ammunition for Carthaginian catapults.
Most of the elephant’s skeleton had rotted away, but the carpal bone was protected by a collapsed wall. While the researchers do not rule out the possibility that the bone was taken as a souvenir, they note that it is small enough to carry.
The Elephant’s Origins
MartÃnez Sánchez stated that it is currently not possible to determine whether the animal was an Asian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus), which the Greek king Pyrrhus of Epirus used against the Romans about 10 years before the First Punic War, or a now-extinct species of African elephant that the Carthaginians preferred for their war beasts.
Hannibal’s March
Hannibal Barca, the Carthaginian general and nobleman, launched his famous attack on Rome in about 218 B.C. He led his armies through Western Europe into Italy. Most of his war elephants died while crossing the Alps, but his armies were victorious against the Romans for many years.
Hannibal was recalled to Carthage in 203 B.C. to defend against Roman attacks there. However, the Carthaginians ultimately lost their second war against Rome, just as they had in the First Punic War more than 20 years earlier. About 50 years later, Rome initiated a Third Punic War, which the weakened Carthaginians also lost, leading to their eventual destruction.
The researchers emphasized that the elephant that died near Córdoba could not have been one of the “legendary specimens” that crossed the Alps with Hannibal. However, the bone remains a relic of the ancient Punic Wars for control of the Mediterranean. It symbolizes the passage of these “tanks of antiquity” through the Iberian peninsula.
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