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Tuscan Archipelago >> History
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 The
findings made on the islands of Elba, Capraia, Gorgona, Pianosa
and Montecristo reveal that the inhabitants did not navigate.
This could seem strange, but is comprehensible if we consider
the fact that there were no island at that time. Elba, Capraia,
Gorgona, Montecristo and Pianosa were a long peninsula which
broke up in small islands during the Neolithic era, becoming
the Tuscan archipelago. About 2000 years B.C the “rinaldoniani”,
navigators and warriors arrived to the islands from the part
of Bolsena. They knew how to use metal and invaded the islands
in search for copper mines. Still today, in the Cave of San
Giuseppe in Rio Marina on the island of Elba, we are able to
see the places used to bury people and there are about 50 skeletons
preserved here. On Pianosa there are some artificial wells which
were built by the rinaldoniani. During the period which proceeds
the rise of the Etruscan civilisation the Ligures and other
peoples from south of the Apennines probably visited the archipelago,
but it is only when the Thyrrenians come that the islands begin
to be part of the history and the closeness to civilisation.
The Etruscan came to Tuscany around the VIII century A.C. and
extended their influence of their culture and civilisation without
using their force and wars. The
Etruscans were refined artists, knew about astronomy and hydraulics,
founded big and important cities, were used to luxury villas
and created a writing alphabet and mathematic signs. It is during
this period that the exploition of the mineral resources on
Elba and Giglio starts which gave the Etruscan the iron necessary
to manufacture goods. But as the centuries went by, the underground
mineral extraction on the biggest islands of the Tuscan archipelago
served other purposes than the simple need to manufacture precious
ornaments, such as the economical consolidation and the political
expansion. As the Greeks rammed and sacked the Etruscan ships
full of precious metals, the Etruscan decided to transport by
land through Lazio and Campagnia. This is how the famous “iron
road” is born and that guaranteed that the iron got from Populonia
to the Middle East in less than one month and along its course,
also opened the way for the culture and civilisation of the
Thyrrenians. After that the Etruscan together with Carthago
had defeated the Greeks, the iron road became even longer thanks
to the integration of Corsica, and the Tuscan mineral arrived
to the north of Europe.
Photos
from APT Tuscan Archipelago and Mediaweb srl. |
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