Ancient Etruscans prayed at sacred hot springs, stunning statues reveal

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Two-dozen ancient bronze sculptures found in Italy "will rewrite history."

A mud-caked bronze sculpture unearthed in Italy.
Two dozen well-preserved bronze sculptures depicting gods and other important figures were found at a thermal spring in Tuscany. (Image credit: Italian Ministry of Culture)

Archaeologists in Italy have unearthed more than two dozen 2,000-year-old bronze statues, many of which are impeccably preserved in millennia of mud, alongside thousands of coins left there by Romans and Etruscans, a mysterious people who once ruled parts of the Italian Peninsula and whose language has yet to be deciphered.

Since 2019, archaeologists have been digging in San Casciano dei Bagni, a commune in the central Italian region of Tuscany, and their persistence has paid off. The ancient statues are the largest concentration of bronze statues from that time period ever found in Italy and include pieces that depict Apollo and Hygeia, the ancient Greek god and goddess of health. Some of the statues also contain Etruscan and Latin inscriptions, according to a translated statement. (The Etruscan written language uses the Latin alphabet, but researchers haven't been able to decipher the words.)

"It's a discovery that will rewrite history," Jacopo Tabolli, an archaeologist at the University for Foreigners of Siena who coordinated the dig, said in the statement. 

Related: Scientists solve the mystery of the Etruscans' origins

"While there were social and civil wars being fought outside the sanctuary ... inside the sanctuary the great elite Etruscan and Roman families prayed together in a context of peace surrounded by conflict," Tabolli said. "This possibility to rewrite the relationship and dialectic between the Etruscans and Romans is an exceptional opportunity."

He added that "even in historical epochs in which the most awful conflicts were raging outside, inside these pools and on these altars the two worlds, the Etruscan and Roman ones, appear to have co-existed without problems," he told ANSA, an Italian news agency.

Based on the importance of these findings, the Italian Ministry of Culture has announced that it will begin construction on a new museum to house the antiquities.

Jennifer Nalewicki
Journalist

Jennifer Nalewicki is former Live Science staff writer and Salt Lake City-based journalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American, Popular Mechanics and more. She covers several science topics from planet Earth to paleontology and archaeology to health and culture. Prior to freelancing, Jennifer held an Editor role at Time Inc. Jennifer has a bachelor's degree in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin.