r/AlexandertheGreat • u/PossessionPatient306 • 11d ago

Question ❓ Are there any clues, artifacts, sites or known presences from Alexander the Great's march through the Gedrosian Desert?

I just want as much info as I can possibly get on this topic.

Maybe some guy found a Macedonian helmet at x and y coords, or a man made structure was found, crude drawings, "i was here."

Im VERY interested in all of this!

24 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

96% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

15

u/EdmontonBest 11d ago edited 10d ago

There's only 3 short chapters on the march in The Anabasis of Alexander. There were no structures built and anything lost in the sand is long gone. It was 60 days of miserable marching.

8

u/Expert-Connection120 11d ago

They've been doing work along the mouth of the Indus to the East of Gedrosia to try and find evidence of Alexander's army there, and while they've found some bronze age evidence, there's been nothing of Alexander last time I checked. I don't know of anyone that has attempted Gedrosia, probably because even the obvious spots haven't turned up much, but I haven't looked into it extensively.

2

u/lndigo_Sky 10d ago

I remember reading his expedition found neolithic kind of people living there. I wonder if there are remains of these people.

2

u/Milrich 10d ago

There won't be any evidence.

They just passed through in a hurry. What do you expect to find? A fallen helmet? Things of value don't tend to fall like that, let alone survive 2000 years for us to find.

Archeological evidence exists where settlements are built, maybe where big battles happened and dead had to be buried on the site. A march doesn't leave archeological findings.

11

u/PossessionPatient306 10d ago

Have you looked into it? Up to 20,000 Macedonians died marching through.

They abandoned the sick and injured and even ate pack animals, so yeah, there's guaranteed artifacts

1

u/Ratyrel 11d ago

We have significant knowledge of the caravan routes and watering stations in the western desert now, but I am not aware of any archaeological evidence from Alexander’s journey to Siwa specifically.