Italy unearths exceptional haul of ancient bronzes

[Minimalist]

Keep digging, boys!


https://www.rawstory.com/italy-unearths ... t-bronzes/

Italian archaeologists announced on Tuesday the extraordinary discovery of more than 20 bronze statues created over 2,000 years ago, almost perfectly preserved in the mud of hot springs in Tuscany.

The statues depict deities venerated at a sanctuary in San Casciano dei Bagni, established first by the Etruscans and then expanded under the Romans, according to Italy's culture ministry.

Votive offerings and around 5,000 gold, silver and bronze coins were also found during three years of excavations at the site, which has drawn visitors to its natural thermal waters for more than two millennia.

Jacopo Tabolli, the Etruscan specialist who led the project, called it an "unparalleled" discovery that promised to shed new light on the period when the bronzes were created, from around the 2nd century BC to the first century AD.

[circumspice]

I'm not terribly interested in (or "up on") Roman history, but when did the Romans begin to absorb the Etruscans into their culture? The Romans emerged about 700 bce, right? And the Etruscans were the older culture... I guess what I'm getting at is that the recent finds, which date from about 200 bce to 100 ce, would have probably been the last gasp of the Etruscan people. I'm wondering if the bronzes could even be considered Etruscan, despite some of the Etruscan family names associated with the finds.

[Minimalist]

Rome pretty much dominated the Italian Peninsula, south of the Po, after the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BCE. The Etruscans were allied with the Samnites and a few others but after Sentinum they were a spent force. As was customary, The Romans absorbed them rather than destroy them.