Tin Mines of Tuscany worked by Etruskans.
The last and one of the most important discoveries of ancient tin mines in Europe is that brought before the Archæological Congress at Buda-Pesth, by Prof. Capellini[1] in 1876. The mines in Tuscany (Fig. 168, T) in Monte Valerio, opposite the island of Elba, called Cento Camerelle, have long been known for their enormous depth and their vast extent, and are proved by the implements and scarabæi found in them and the surrounding refuse-heaps to have been worked by the Etruskans. In exploring one of the galleries M. Blanchard discovered tin-stone, which had evidently been the principal metal sought by the miners.[2] Tin-stone also occurs in small quantities in the neighbouring island of Elba.
Monte Valerio is not very far from the copper mines of Montieri (Lat. Mons aeris = Bronze Hill), a name which stamps the locality where the copper and tin were mingled together by the smelter. The copper mines were worked with bronze picks and wedges, and in the refuse-heaps vast quantities of pottery have been found with some coins, among which is one of Populonia (Pupluna) with the head of Vulcan, and on the reverse the emblems of the metal-worker—a hammer and pincers.[3] Thus, in this district, close to the centre of the dominion of ancient Etruria, we have the two metals side by side, which enabled the Etruskans to become the famous bronze merchants and metal-workers which they were at
