- chapter i: Etruscan environments –
the Etruscans made use of coppice woods, or silvia cauduae, in their processing of the
mineral ores melted here. Cato the Elder talks about the profi tability of various forms of
such coppice woods (Cato, Agr. Orig. 1.7). Pliny writes at length about the plantation and
cultivation of trees including the use of coppice woods. He values chestnut as the most
useful tree in this process, since it is easily worked and its rotation period is only six years
(Pliny HN 17.35.147-159). The postulated question was how the Etruscans provided
raw material and fuel to the metal industry on Elba and in Populonia. Estimations of the
annual extent of the production differ widely from 10 million tons (which is unrealistic)
to the lowest fi gure estimation of about 4–5000 tons of ore extraction. Calculations of
the amount of charcoal needed for Etruscan type furnaces with two bellows estimate that
170 kilos of charcoal was needed to produce one kilo of wrought iron. In the furnace the
carbon dioxide produced by the fuel reduced the iron from the ore. The product, the
blomma (“bloom”), had to be reheated and hammered several times to remove slags and
coal. Of course this process demanded huge amounts of wood. In his investigation of fuel
used near the mines, John Nilén, in an unfortunately unpublished manuscript, identifi ed
two main types of wood used, oak and sweet chestnut.^27 He does not specify the type of
oak species, but P. G. Warden has suggested that Quercus cerris, the Bush- or Turkish oak,
was used for metal production at Poggio Civitate.^28 Castanea sativa, the sweet chestnut,
originated in Asia and was fi rst planted by the Greeks (hence its name Sardis glans, the
nut from Sardis). Both the extraction and the processing of the ores were believed to
have taken place near the sources on Elba. It has been shown by recent excavations in
the ancient port area that from the mid-fi fth century bc large-scale production was
transferred to or concentrated in Populonia.^29 Most scholars believe that this shift took
place after the island had become totally deforested. Elba today is still heavily marked by
erosion and barren hills. In Populonia and the Massetano, however, production seems not
to have caused irreducible deforestation and extraction in the Massetano continued into
medieval times.^30 Therefore we intended to take a pollen sample in the year 1997 in order
to investigate the possible use of coppice woods in Etruscan times. The results are given
in short below and include only times of vegetational transitions and their interpretation.
Lago dell’Accesa: Results of pollen-core studies6000–4000 bc – rising water levels, large forests of deciduous oak.
Analysis: relatively cold and wet climate, no clear evidence of human presence.
3700 bc – drier climate, appearance of pollen of wheat types, deciduous forests notably
diminished.
Analysis: human reclamation of arable land for cultivation.
1450 bc – (beginning of Apennine Bronze Age) more humid climatic conditions,
emergence of plants typical of grazed soil, tree, heather and oaks declined.
Analysis: arrival of herdsmen, pastoralism the chief economic strategy.
c. 900 bc – (beginning of Villanovan period) rising amounts of pollen from cultivated
plants; olives, fruit trees, herbs of groves and meadows, chestnut and oak are increasing,
decreasing amounts of plantain.
Analysis: open human shaped landscape with groves and meadows and olive cultivation,
pastureland seemingly diminished.