Hannibal left in June 218 BC Cartagena (Spain), to attack Rome from the north. He hoped to relieve the endangered Carthage.

In November he arrived at the Alps.

With 38.000 footmen and more then 8.000 horsemen Hannibal departed from the Rhône river.

15 days later he arrived on the plains of the river Po with only 14.000 soldiers and 6.000 horsemen, but all of the 37 elephants.

The Great St.Bernhard-Pass connects the Rhône river valley at Martigny in the north with the Dora Baltea valley at Aosta in the south.

The soil for this project was collected on both sides of the Pass at constant heights.

The difference in height between the collection points represents two Roman "stages" (a Roman unit of measurement).

Hannibal most likely travelled from the Rhône river through the Arc valley over the Col du Clappier 2477 m, and reached the capital of the Taurians, the city of today's Turin in Italy.