Tin-rich slags from a VI-IV cent. BC Etruscan settlement at Populonia (Tuscany, Italy)

The Gulf of Baratti, extending beneath the Etruscan town of Populonia, has represented one of the most important early iron metalworking centres in Europe as witnessed by the huge heaps of slags discharged over five centuries (VI-I cent. BC) by the Etruscans and the Romans. In addition to iron, however, Etruscans are thought to have also exploited and smelted base-metal (Cu, Pb, Sn) in the Baratti area, although the only direct evidences of this are so far represented by some copper slags. At the beginning of a research project on metal production in the Populonia area, we have analyzed a number of slags from the so called “A” Building in the Poggio della Porcareccia industrial zone (VI-IV century BC). Several samples of slags were taken from an embankment constituting the foundation of a IV cent. BC-building. They include both tapping and furnace slags of small size (on average 130 cm3), mostly magnetic, composed of dominant fayalitic olivine and wüstite ± magnetite and quartz. The occurrence of micron-sized droplets of metallic tin (bulk contents in the order of 0.01-0.03%) is especially noteworthy. This feature, together with the presence of metallic Bi and W-rich phases in the groundmass, could fingerprint the processing of base-metal ores of “inland” provenance, i.e. coming from the nearby Cu-Pb-(Zn,Ag,Sn) Campiglia M.ma-M.te Valerio deposits.