Archaeologists working in Tuscany’s Siena province have uncovered 24 bronze statues in near-perfect condition at the site of a temple dating to perhaps 200 BC.
The artifacts bear inscription in both Latin and Etruscan, which may indicate that the Etruscan language survived longer than previously believed. The statues, likely preserved because they were in a layer of mud and thermal mineral springs, were accompanied by over five thousand gold, silver and bronze coins.
The site, in San Casciano dei Bagni, where work has been going on since 2019, was described by the head of museums at Italy’s Ministry of Culture as “certainly one of the most significant bronze finds ever made in the history of the ancient Mediterranean.”
The objects found include a statue of Apollo, as well as Hygieia, the goddess of health, with a snake coiled around her arm, and various other divinities and emperors. It’s believed that there were several centuries of pre-Christian worship at the site, and that the temple was buried rather than destroyed in Christian times.
