CHAP. XL] THE TIN MINES OF TUSCANY. 405 



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 Archaeological 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 enor- 

 mous depth and their vast extent, and are proved by 

 the implements and scarabsei found in them and the 

 surrounding refuse-heaps to have been worked by the 

 Etruskans. In exploring one of the galleries M. Blan- 

 chard 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 



1 Congr. Int. Archdol Prehist., Buda-Pesth voL, p. 452. 



2 Mr. A. E. Arnold has recently given an interesting account of these 

 mines ; Iron, Aug. 9, 1879, p. 166. 



3 Simonin, La Vie Souterraine, Paris, 1867, p. 474 et zeq. 



