Archaeological museum and Mining Museum, the central points of the mineral Park of Elba Island.
The Archaeological Museum of the Mining District, in addition to the Mining Museum, one of the central points of the dissemination of cultural content of the mineral Park of Elba Island.
The Museum is located in Rio nell’elba
The Archaeological Museum of the Mining District is located in Rio nell’elba, in a modern building under the charming terrace in the Barcocaio. The name originated from a dialect form of riese because it is located in the place where they grow different apricot, called “barcochi”. Inside has chronicled the ancient history of the mining district ofElbe to the east, starting from the beginning of its exploitation, during the Copper Age, up to the middle Ages.
The museum of the Mining District exposed finds eneoliti
In the Archaeological Museum of the Mining District are exposed finds eneoliti (the end of the third and beginning of the second millennium.C.) of the approximately 90 depositions in the collective burial of the Cave of St. Joseph, divided by types: flask vases with one or two handles, and vessels in the body biconic, ovoid and ellipsoid, bowls and cups with loop elevated; also arrowheads of flint imported and jasper local tips on the bone and daggers, flat-blade copper with high presence of arsenic.
The excavation of the necropolis eneolitiche has enabled us to reconstruct the social dynamics are very active for this period, linked to the recovery of the copper strands of the surface, agriculture and pastoralism. The social groups were small in size, and the choice to have the necropolis in the guards, presumably associated with the villages not far away, let presuppose a high conflict within the company, motivated by the generic welfare.
Stories of ancient peoples and the mines are mixed in this place, the centre of the village of Rio Elba, and a starting point for adventures in the discovery of the territory!
Materials of the Bronze age and the early iron age
The Museum also preserves the materials of the Bronze age and the iron age, from the collection of Raphael Said, some kits etruscan archaic and kits hellenistic necropolis of the Buraccio: peculiar feature of the contexts in which elba is the long continuity of use, related to the exploitation of local resources, when the needs of the defence and control of a territory that is highly coveted.
The exhibition also includes some of the finds coming from San Bennato at the Cable plant for the mining operations, located close to the beach and part integrande of the system of exploitation of the mineral resources that had its maximum development in full to the republican era, the first half of the II century a.C. at the beginning of The century. to.C. Here the excavations have yielded remains of furnaces, tanks and channels for the washing of the ore that you assumed were part of the production system in support of the effort to the expansion of the roman on the eve of the second punic war: the mining district of the Elbe was to extract and make the first reduction of the ore for shipment, semi-finished products in Etruria for the forging of weapons that would have defeated Hannibal and bent the entire Mediterranean.
The underwater discovery of the Cable and Porto Azzurro
In the age of roman finds from the underwater Cable and Porto Azzurro, testify to the importance of the routes which connected the mining district to the rest of the island (movement of goods and raw ores for smelting plants) and the continent (trade in agricultural products and semi-finished products of iron).
Then, from the half of The century.C., Elba and the other islands of the Archipelago share the fate of the privileged locations of the luxurious residences for wealthy Romans. So also at the Head of the Castle, the north-eastern tip of the island and the place nearest to the continent, is one of the three seaside villas of elba. The remains, which have already been mentioned in the literature antiquarian between the eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, are now hidden among the vegetation and the buildings and modern, but the location of the Museum, provides a description updated to the recent excavations, and shows the recovered materials.
The exploitation of the iron in the middle Ages, under the Republic of Pisa
The recovery of the exploitation of the vein of iron occurred in the middle Ages under the control of the Republic of Pisa, when close to the mining area were built in the village of Rio and Grassera. The latter was destroyed in 1534 by a raid of the pirate Barbarossa and abandoned, has been the subject of recent archaeological research. The excavations have provided materials and information that illustrate the life in a house with a metallurgical lab.
The objects of the daily life of Grassera, the abandoned village and disappeared, and conclude the museum, but the story continues in the village of Rio, who welcomed the survivors of the destruction of the Turkish-barbarian.
Cost of Tickets to the Mining Museum in Rio nell’elba
€ 7,00
Reduced € 5.00 (from 4 to 12 years)
Ticket (Archaeological Museum and Mining Museum)
€ 9,00
Reduced price € 6,00 (from 4 to 12 years)
How to get to Museo Civico Archeologico Mining District, Rio nell’elba
The Museum is located in the centre of the town, under the rooftop terrace of the Barcocaio, reached down from Piazza del Popolo to the left.