In a country that already boasts the Colosseum, the Valley of the Temples and the volcanically preserved ruins of Pompeii, archaeologists have announced another discovery they believe will rewrite ancient history.
Archaeologists in Italy began excavating the ruins of a sanctuary and thermal springs in Tuscany about three years ago, Italy’s culture ministry said in a press release on Tuesday, November 8. The waters were considered sacred by the ancient Romans and the ancient Etruscans who lived in the area before them.
The warm muddy waters held a treasure trove of artifacts.
The archaeologists, led by Professor Jacopo Tabolli at the University for Foreigners of Siena, found more than 20 bronze statues and 5,000 gold, silver and copper coins preserved in the hot spring, the ministry said. The photos show the human-shaped statues emerging from the mud. The brown-black statues showed some wear but remained largely intact.
Some statues were standing figures, the photos show. Others looked more like busts, depicting only one head, a video from the ministry shows. Some statues had inscriptions on them, still legible millennia later, the publication said, showing the video.
One of the bronze statues recovered from the muddy hot spring in Italy. Photos from the Italian Ministry of Culture via AP
These statues were given to the hot spring as part of a religious vow or ritual, experts said in the release. Some depicted ancient Greco-Roman deities, including Hygieia, the goddess of health and hygiene, and Apollo, the sun god.
Explaining the ritual of hot spring offerings, Tabolli told Reuters that people saw it as a kind of exchange.
“You give to the water because you hope the water will give you something back,” he said.
Most of the statues date between the second century BC. and the first century AD, meaning the figures spent about 2,000 years in the mud-filled hot spring, archaeologists said. This period was a time of “great transformation in ancient Tuscany,” when the ancient Etruscans were absorbed into the ancient Roman empire in a volatile and war-filled process, the Italian ministry said, according to Reuters.
Tabolli, the chief archaeologist, believes the bronze statues will rewrite ancient history. Few bronze statues have been found from this ancient time. Instead, archaeologists have mostly found terracotta statues — until recently.
The thermal spring, Bagno Grande, is located in San Casciano dei Bagni, about 100 miles north of Rome in the province of Siena and the greater Tuscany region.
View of the ancient Tuscan thermal spring in San Casciano dei Bagni, central Italy, from above. Photos from the Italian Ministry of Culture via AP
The recovery of the statues was a collaborative effort, the Culture Ministry said, involving architects and geologists, experts in ancient inscriptions and ancient plants, as well as experts in coins and coins.
Archaeologists work at the ancient thermal spring in Tuscany. Photos from the Italian Ministry of Culture via AP
Italy’s Ministry of Culture and the General Director of Museums said that a new museum and archaeological park dedicated to the bronzes will be created in the area.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Italian Ministry of Culture. Facebook Translate was used to translate the ministry video.
Aspen Pflughoeft covers real-time news for McClatchy. He is a graduate of Minerva University where he studied communications, history and international politics. Previously, it was reported in the Deseret News.
