New research from Durham University has traced Bronze Age tin artefacts found in Mediterranean shipwrecks back to Britain, providing compelling evidence that Cornish tin was a key component of early international trade.
Although bronze—an alloy of copper and tin—accounts for only a small proportion of modern tin usage, its adoption from around 3300 BC marked a significant technological leap as the preferred metal for tools and weapons.
While copper was widely available across Europe, tin is far less abundant and constrained to just a few major deposits. The research group, Project Ancient Tin, used three independent ICP-MS (inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry) techniques analysing trace elements, lead isotopes, and tin isotopes, to determine the provenance of ancient tin ingots.
The researchers found the chemical signatures of these artefacts were all consistent with specifically Cornwall or Devon tin ores.
Key findings include tin recovered from shipwrecks off the coast of Israel, dating to around 1300 BC, and from a 600 BC wreck near southern France. These results point to a far-reaching Bronze Age trade network, making tin one of the first commodities to be traded over such a significant distance.
Historical texts support these conclusions. Pytheas of Massalia, writing around 320 BC, described tin being mined in Britain and exported via small island—now believed to be St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall—before travelling overland through France.
In the Bronze Age, tin production in the UK was dominated by alluvial deposits, and excavations in the nineteenth century have found tools used for tin mining, while other classical authors also reference tin mining in the British Isles.
The findings underscore Britain’s early role in international trade, and reinforce Cornwall’s historic importance in global tin supply. With several modern tin mining projects now advancing towards production, the area’s multi-millennia mining legacy may soon enter a renaissance—forty years after the 1985 tin price crash led to the closure of Cornwall’s last tin mines.
