THE HANNIBAL ROUTE QUESTION OF 218 BC: A FORENSIC EXERCISE RELATIVE TO HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Abstract

Following a long and protracted survey of all targeted approach routes, cols of passage and exfiltration

pathways projected to have been followed by Hannibal and his generals when they crossed into Italy in 218

BC, the physical evidence points to the Col de la Traversette, first identified by Sir Gavin de Beer in the

1960‘s. The first attempts to identify the route out of a dozen possible transits, focused not only on historical

interpretations using the evolution of place names but on physical evidence possibly resident in hearths, al

luvial terraces and rock rubble masses along the various approach routes. The primary argument following

ten years of investigating every approach route from the Col Agnel in the south to the Col Mt. Cenis in the

north, was that if the only blocking rockfall described by Polybius was present below the Traversette col,

then mires or fans on either side in France and Italy might contain a record of Hannibal‘s passage. Beyond

their key positions as water sources and foraging areas, the French mire and coalescing alluvial fan sediment

in the upper Po, might carry evidence of the ecologic disturbance that could be radiocarbon dated to the

Hannibal time line of 2168 cal yr BP or 218 BC. It is this long quest to unlock the Hannibalic invasion route

that opened up key areas for historical archaeological exploration. This forensic cross/discipline exercise

might serve to highlight a valuable method useful in solving other elusive ancient historical archaeological

problems.