When Hannibal marched on Rome he took a number of elephants with him through the Alps. Were any remnants of elephants who died along the route later found?

by Rocketsponge
Dork_Vader

No, but then again he only took 37 or 38 elephants. Plus, the bones would have to have been buried soon after the elephants died in order to be possibly be fossilized. Even then, fossilization is rare. Left out in the open, an animal carcass would probably have been processed by the army and then scavenged by the locals, both human and animal alike. The remaining bits of organic material would decompose and be subject o further predation, soil acidity, plant growth, the elements. If there were remnants, they could be very few and far between. However, most likely, there simply would not be any remnants left to find.

Searocksandtrees