Ancient bronze discovery rewrites Italy's history

Italian authorities announced the extraordinary discovery of two dozen well-preserved bronze statues from an ancient Tuscan thermal spring. The find will "rewrite history" about the 1st and 2nd century B.C. transition from the Etruscan civilization to the Roman Empire.

The discovery, in the San Casciano dei Bagni archaeological dig near Siena, 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. The statues include full-sized figures as well as individual body parts and organs which would have been used to pray to the divinities for intervention for medical cures via the thermal waters.