Discovery of 2,000-year-old statues in Italy ‘will rewrite history’

A statue is seen at the site of the discovery of two dozen well-preserved bronze statues from an ancient Tuscan thermal spring in San Casciano dei Bagni, central Italy (Italian Culture Ministry via AP/PA)

The discovery of 2,000-year-old bronze statues in an ancient thermal spring will “rewrite history” about the transition from the Etruscan civilisation to the Roman Empire, Italian experts have said.

The find in the San Casciano dei Bagni archaeological dig near Siena, Tuscany, is one of the most significant ever in the Mediterranean and certainly the most important since the 1972 underwater discovery of the famed Riace bronze warriors, said Massimo Osanna, the Culture Ministry’s director of museums.