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Prehistory of Tuscany Italy

A few hundred thousand years ago Tuscany was covered by large lakes and its land along the sea was still widely covered. All territories of its most important towns, except for Siena, were submerged by water, while the hills at the back of Livorno and Lucca were small islands or strips of land emerging from the sea, so much that, in their stratum, there are, still visible, fish and shell rest, small fossils and even little pieces of coral. The promontory of Piombino and Monte Argentario were large islands too.

As the lakes dried up and river basins were formed, the flow of the biggest rivers stored up silt and drift in the lower areas, forming the many Tuscan plains, the ones occupied today by Grosseto, Pisa, Firenze and Pistoia.

As the sea receded, large strips of sand and clay deposited also along the coast (as seen by the later, stagnant and polluted, gave origin to a marshy district, affecting the environment and animal evolution, besides human settlements. Meanwhile other marshes formed inland, in Valdichiana and in lower Valdarno between Bientina and Fucecchio.

In the long glacial period (ancient Quaternary) small glacial drifts formed below the highest peaks of Tuscan Emilian Appennine and at the same time there were important volcanic eruptions, mainly visible today in the southern part of the region, still 'centered' around Mount Amiata, big extinct volcano lined by lava formations (Roccastrada, Campiglia Marittima, Capraia), with impressive spurs of tuff (Sorano, Pitigliano) and steam reserves that burst out from Larderello volcanic steam jets and from thermal springs in Val d'Orcia. In the many prehistoric stages, from Middle Paleolithic to the Iron age, the presence of man left several and widespread signs (near Arezzo, in Mugello; in Apuane, near Talamone, in Cortona, Montespertoli, Pomarance), in caves and rocky gorges.

In those times man lived grouped in tribes, in woods near lakes and rivers and on hills, sheltered from the dangers of the vast and unhealthy marshes.

Around the first millennium B.C. man gave rise to the more organized and advanced Etruscan civilization.

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