A pioneering study by Durham University experts has revealed one of archaeology’s oldest mysteries—where early Bronze Age societies obtained the tin to produce bronze. Using advanced scientific methods, scientists have uncovered the first tangible proof that tin from southwest Britain, mined over 3,000 years ago, was not just extremely prized but was exported right across Europe and even to the very center of the eastern Mediterranean.

The group led by Dr. Alan Williams and Dr. Benjamin Roberts examined tin artefacts and ores—some of which were obtained from ancient shipwrecks along the coasts of southern France and Israel. With the help of both chemical fingerprinting and isotopic study, the scientists were able to identify the ancient Cornish and Devonian districts of origin for the tin ingots.

This finding is important, as it attests to the fact that the British districts were in the middle of the supply chain for tin during the Bronze Age, with the metal going as far as 4,000 kilometers from where it was sourced.

tin british isles bronze age
Some of the tin artifacts examined in the study. Credit: R. Alan Williams

The research represents the first time scientific evidence have supported historical records—specifically accounts by the Greek explorer Pytheas, writing about 320 BC, of a thriving industry importing tin centered about an island he named Ictis, lying off Britain. According to Pytheas, merchants would bring the tin aboard ships across the water and down along rivers in France, to the Rhone Delta in under four weeks.

That the research has identified British tin in the Rochelongue wreck, dated to about 600 BC, and located off the southern French coast, provides firm tangible evidence for such a system.

This extensive trade network, according to researchers, started centuries before and stretched across many territories, connecting Britain’s rural tin-producing villages to thriving Mediterranean hubs.

tin british isles bronze age
Statue of Pytheas in Marseille. Credit: Rvalette / Wikimedia Commons

Tens of tons were annually traded, according to the team, to support equally vibrant trade in copper—bronze being an alloy usually made up of 90% copper and 10% tin. This quantity of trade is evidence of organization and connectivity higher than previous hypotheses about the seclusion of Britain during the Bronze Age.

What we’re discovering is Cornwall and Devon were not backwaters at the fringe of the civilized world, according to Dr. Roberts. They were part of a sophisticated system that provided the raw materials needed to fuel the creation of ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean.

The study confirms tin as the earliest trade commodity of Britain to have been exported widely all across the continent. In the weeks ahead, the team from Durham will start excavations at St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, one of the places long theorised to have been Pytheas’s Ictis.

SOURCES

University of Durham

Williams RA, Montesanto M, Badreshany K, et al., From Land’s End to the Levant: did Britain’s tin sources transform the Bronze Age in Europe and the Mediterranean? Antiquity. Published online 2025:1-19. doi:10.15184/aqy.2025.41

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