ROME —
Italian archaeologists announced on Tuesday
the extraordinary discovery of more than 20 bronze statues created over 2,000
years ago, almost perfectly preserved in the mud of hot springs in Tuscany.
اضافة اعلان
The statues
depict deities venerated at a sanctuary in San Casciano dei Bagni, established
first by the Etruscans and then expanded under the Romans, according to Italy’s
culture ministry.
Votive offerings
and around 5,000 gold, silver, and bronze coins were also found during three
years of excavations at the site, which has drawn visitors to its natural thermal
waters for more than two millennia.
Jacopo Tabolli,
the Etruscan specialist who led the project, called it an “unparalleled”
discovery that promised to shed new light on the period when the bronzes were
created, from around the 2nd century BC to the first century AD.
It was during
this time that the ancient civilization of the Etruscans, conquered by Rome,
was gradually absorbed into the
Roman Empire.
“The Tuscan site
is the largest deposit of bronze statues from the Etruscan and Roman age ever
discovered in ancient Italy and one of the most significant in the entire
Mediterranean,” Tabolli said.
“It is
unparalleled, especially because until now the statues from that period have
mainly been terracotta.”
The hot spring
water preserved the items to such an extent that inscriptions in Etruscan and
Latin are still visible, including names of powerful Etruscan families.
The statues
include depictions of the god Apollo and of Hygieia, venerated as the goddess of
health.
Massimo Osanna,
director general of Italy’s state museums, said it was the most important
Italian finds since the Riace Bronzes, and “certainly one of the most
significant bronze finds ever made in the history of the ancient
Mediterranean”.
In 1972, two
ancient Greek bronze statues of warriors dating back to the fifth century BC
were recovered in a near-perfect state of conservation near Riace in southern
Italy.
The bronzes
discovered in the Tuscan hot springs will be the centerpieces of a new museum,
to which an archaeological park will eventually be added.
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