Extended Exhibition for 'Exceptional' Newly Resurfaced Ancient Statues

Someone with magnifying goggles on inspects a bronze statue found at the dig. The figure resembles a small child, holding a ball by their side in their left hand. The features are recognizable. — Mud and boiling water preserved the statues in an Italian thermal sanctuary for thousands of years. (Source: Emanuele Antonio Minerva / Italy’s Ministery of Culture)

The Quirinal Palace in Rome extended its exhibition showing the approximately 2,300-year-old bronze statues archaeologists uncovered last year.

In 2022, archaeologists discovered 24 bronze statues from over 2,300 years ago in a thermal sanctuary outside a small Italian town, San Casciano dei Bagni. The sculptures are from the Etruscan and Roman ages and are the most significant bronze collection anyone has ever found in Italy.

Following the discovery, Italian officials decided to display the artifacts in the palace while planning for a permanent building museum in the San Casciano region. The museum extended the exhibition, The Gods Return, from ending in October to finishing on 22nd December.

Director General of Museums Massimo Osanna organized the exhibition’s venue and said the archaeologists’ work is “certainly one of the most significant bronze finds ever made in the history of the ancient Mediterranean.”

Rising From Mud and Warm Water

Two images split down the middle. On the left, an archaeologist holds a bronze statue upright in mud. The statue is wearing a bronze toga, has in-tact features, and looks well preserved. On the right is a sculpture depicting a naked man lying in the mud. — Dig co-coordinator Jacopo Tabolli said the statues were “almost like as on the day they were immersed.” (Source: Italian Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities)

Mud and boiling thermal water preserved the finds for thousands of years, prompting one archaeologist, Jacopo Tabolli, to call the objects “exceptional.” Tabolli said the wet earth and water preserved the artifacts. He commented that when the dig team discovered them, they were “almost like as on the day they were immersed.”

Tabolli, the dig’s coordinator, said,

“It is a very significant, exceptional finding.”

In 2022, he claimed the unearthing is “a discovery that will rewrite history.” The statues are the largest bronze artifact bundle found since 1972 by archaeologists.

The professor added that the statues depicting Greco-Roman divinities, including Hygieia and Apollo, were used to decorate the thermal site. Almost 6,000 bronze, silver, and gold coins covered the exhibits. Archaeologists believe people submerged the bronzes in the sanctuary’s water after lightning struck the area.

Tabolli commented on the ritual: “You give to the water because you hope that the water gives something back to you.”

Two large head sculptures with well-defined features sit on a table. Their bases have clear plastic wrapping around them. The sculptures have Roman noses. — Two busts archaeologists uncovered from the Italian dig-site in 2022. (Source: Italian Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities)

Clues From the Past

There were inscriptions from the Perugia territory on many sculptures from the site. Perugia is about 70 kilometers from San Casciana, a long way for people to travel then. Tabolli told The New York Times this journey shows that “how complex and nuanced” the culture was.

“Gods changed, but the water remained the same,” he added.

According to Italy’s Ministry of Culture, the bronzes come from an “era of great conflicts” when Tuscany changed from Etruscan to Roman rule. The ministry added that this period, between the second century BC and the first century AD, was when San Casciano was a “unique multicultural and multilingual haven of peace, surrounded by political instability and war.”

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