How Britain’s long-distance tin trade transformed the Bronze Age

A new study has revealed that 3,300 years ago, tin mined in south-west Britain was a key resource for major Bronze Age civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean thousands of kilometers away.

The findings, based on the analysis of tin ores and tin artifacts, including those from ancient shipwrecks from south-west Britain, southern France and Israel, show that British tin was traded up to 4,000km.

Lead researchers Dr. Alan Williams and Dr. Benjamin Roberts used advanced scientific techniques to trace the geological origins of tin ingots found in three shipwrecks dating to around 1300 BC off the coast of Israel.

Published in the journal Antiquity, the results provide the first concrete evidence that Cornwall and Devon were major suppliers of tin for bronze production in the ancient world.

Solving an ancient mystery

For over two centuries, archaeologists have debated where Bronze Age societies obtained tin, a globally rare but crucial metal for making bronze (typically 90% copper and 10% tin).

The research team at Durham, in collaboration with European institutions, used chemical and isotope analyses to prove that Britain’s tin was widely traded across Europe and the Mediterranean.

The study also provides the first direct evidence for the tin trade described in classical texts by Pytheas, who traveled around Britain in c. 320 BC and then wrote the first ever account of the island and its people.

He described how tin was traded off a tidal island in southwest Britain which he calls Ictis, before being taken across the sea and down the rivers of France to the mouth of the Rhone in only 30 days.

Researchers show that tin from the Rochelongue shipwreck, off the south coast of France and dating to c. 600 BC, came from southwest Britain.

The study suggests that small farming communities in Cornwall and Devon were not isolated but part of a vast international trade system that supported ancient palaces, cities and states of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Their tin was transported across Europe, probably in stages via traders in France, Sardinia and Cyprus, supporting the development of advanced societies in the Mediterranean. It is estimated that tens of tons of tin were being traded each year to match the hundreds of tons of copper in circulation during the Bronze Age.

The discovery reshapes our understanding of Britain’s importance in ancient history. It identifies the first commodity to be exported across the entire European continent in British history and proves the crucial technological and cultural role of Britain in making the European Bronze Age.

The team will also be excavating on St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall this month, long thought to be the tin trading island of Ictis, mentioned by Pytheas in 320 BC.