They find 24 bronze statues from the 1st and 2nd centuries BC in perfect condition buried under the mud

In total,

, votive offerings and other objects, but also five thousand gold, silver and bronze coins, have been

during the excavation of the ancient baths of

, in the province of Siena, central Italy, which has been considered one of the most significant finds in ancient history.

"A discovery that will rewrite history and in which more than 60 experts from all over the world are already working", declared the etruscologist in charge of the excavation, Jacopo Tabolli, when explaining the new discoveries in the excavation in which work is being carried out and which has become

ever discovered in Italy and one of the most important in the entire Mediterranean.

The new discovery "is the most important finding since the Riace Bronzes, the most significant bronzes ever found in the history of the ancient Mediterranean, were rescued from the sea," said the director general of Italian Museums, Massimo Osanna, in a statement. .

The impressive statues have been recovered from the mud of the old baths and represented the

in the sacred place and together with them some bronze body parts have also been recovered that were offered to the gods for the healing intervention of the divinity through of the hot springs.

Among the statues recovered from the hot mud are the effigies of Hygieia and Apollo, as well as a bronze reminiscent of the famous Arringatore, a statue found years ago in the Perugia area and which represented the figure of the orator Aulus Metellus, an Etruscan senator during the Roman Republic.

The researchers point out that

inside the hot springs has also made it possible to preserve Etruscan and Latin inscriptions that were engraved before their creation.

The inscriptions contain the

from the territory of Inner Etruria, from the Velimna of Perugia to the Marcni, known in Siena.

In addition to the Etruscan phrases, Latin inscriptions have also been discovered, which also mention the "aquae calidae", the hot springs of Bagno Grande, where the statues were placed.

Probably made by local craftsmen, the 24 statues, Tabolli explains, date from between the second century BC and the first century AD, a historical period of important transformations in ancient Tuscany, during the transition between Etruscans and Romans.

"The sanctuary, with its statues, appears as a

on cultural diversity in ancient times, a unique testimony of Etruscan and Roman mobility", adds Tabolli, who affirms that this discovery "is a unique opportunity to rewrite history of 'ancient art and with it the history of the passage between Etruscans and Romans in Tuscany'.

The sanctuary, with its pools, sloping terraces, fountains, altars, existed from at least the 3rd century BC.

C. and remained active until the 5th century AD.

C. when, in Christian times, it was closed but not destroyed.

The pools were

, so having removed that cover, the archaeologists found themselves facing a treasure that was still intact.

This great sanctuary "seems to be a unique place. A kind of bubble of peace, if we think, that even in historical times when the most terrible conflicts existed outside, inside these tanks and on these altars the two worlds, the Etruscan and Latin, seemed to coexist without problems", adds the archaeologist.

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