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International audience; Unevenly distributed in Europe, tin, which is indispensable for the production of bronze, is abundant in Western Iberia. This wealth is already known to classical authors, but only the Late Bronze / Iron Age mine of Logrosán (Cáceres, ES) has been excavated to date (Comendador et al. 2017; Rodríguez Díaz et al. 2016). At the same time, analyses of tin slags, still partly unpublished, confirm the local processing of cassiterite (tin ore: SnO2) during the Late Iron Age/beginning of Roman period in the Northwest of Iberian Peninsula (Figueiredo et al. 2018). On the other hand, the distribution of the Sn content in bronzes from Late Bronze Age (LBA) Western Iberia is close to a normal distribution (∼12.7 ± 1.9 wt%) (Figueiredo et al. 2011), and the tin content is slightly higher than the tin content in coeval European LBA artefacts (Figueiredo et al. 2010), which can be an argument for easy availability/local exploitation of cassiterite as early as the Late Bronze Age (Fernández Miranda et al. 1995). However, the question of the location of the ancient mining remains, as well as that of their dating. Mining activity, which is dependent on the location of mineral resources, is in fact rooted in the structuring of the territory. This implies the establishment of nearby habitats for the miners and workshops to produce metal from the ore. All these elements structure the landscape and leave a lasting imprint (Stöllner 2003, p. 429-431), identifiable by remote sensing, survey and GIS spatial analysis. Here, we present the first results of an ongoing research to locate and study protohistoric tin mines in the north-western Iberian Peninsula. The cross-referencing of mining data with Iron Age settlements makes it possible to delimit areas where mining may have taken place before the Roman conquest. However, the diachronic nature of many of these mines does not allow them to be directly associated with the settlements. We will therefore focus the presentation on the methodology used to reconstruct the phases of alluvial tin mining, using airborne LiDAR data and/or historic aerial imagery. These geographical datasets allow us to select the locations for future excavations in order to date the oldest parts of the mines. This research is part of the project IberianTin (PTDC/HAR-ARQ/32290/2017), funded by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020 Programme and National Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia). We also acknowledge the Cenimat/i3N through the project UID/CTM/50025/2019 funded by FCT/MCTES and the ICT through the project COMPETE 2020 (UID/GEO/04683/2013) with reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007690.

International audience; The northwestern Iberian Peninsula has been well known for its mineral wealth since classical times, including for gold and for tin. In fact, the Iberian tin belt is the largest in western Europe (covering an area of c.200,000 km2), containing tin deposits that were accessible from ancient times. Nevertheless, few archaeological studies have been dedicated to ancient tin mining in the region, unlike gold mining, for which major mining complexes are known from Roman times (e.g. Las Médulas, N Spain, and Três Minas, N Portugal). In this paper, evidence for tin mining in different periods, from the Bronze Age to modern times, is discussed, based on selected casestudies, using various approaches developed for the study of ancient and modern tin mining, by members of the present Iberian Tin Research Group. An introduction to the geographical and geological contexts of Iberian tin, and the history of investigation on Iberian tin mining, is included.

International audience

International audience; The Iberian Peninsula, namely the NorthWestern Iberian area, is one of the richest regions in tin ores-cassiterite-in the European territory. However, the strong mining activity linked to tungsten in the first half of the twentieth century, and the coincidence of these mineralizations with tin ones, has led to the covering or destruction of many possible evidences of ancient mining works. Nevertheless, in written documents related to many of these recent mining sites, there are frequent reports about earlier local evidence of mining exploitations, leading to the frequent expression of "reopening of the mine". In this work we present a state of the art of the possible pathways of investigation open for the study of mining and metallurgy of Iberian tin. Some of these lines have been explored in recent research conducted by the members of the Cassiteros Group. We address issues related to mining landscapes and possible circuits of goods exchange, the existence/absence of metallurgical materials related with tin production in archaeological sites, the finding of ancient materials/artefacts in "reopened" mines in the twentieth century and a brief introduction to the issue of tin in the recent economy (XX century), emphasizing the importance that this metal may have played in ancient as well as in recent NorthWestern Iberian economy. At the same time, we present a proposal on the potential use of these resources, both in terms of the historiography of European pre and proto-history, as in the heritage sector.; La Península Ibérica, y más concretamente el noroeste ibérico, constituye una de las regiones más ricas en minerales de estaño-casiterita-del territorio Europeo. La fuerte actividad minera ligada al wolframio en la primera mitad del siglo XX, dada la coincidencia de estas mineralizaciones con las de estaño, propició la ocultación o destrucción de posibles evidencias de minería antigua. Sin embargo, son recurrentes los relatos y documentos escritos sobre evidencias más antiguas de explotación, anteriores a la "reapertura" de muchos de estos enclaves mineros. En el presente trabajo presentaremos un estado de la cuestión de las posibles vías de investigación abiertas para el estudio de la minería y la metalurgia del estaño Ibérico. Algunas de estas líneas de trabajo han sido exploradas en investigaciones recientes efectuadas por miembros del Grupo Cassiteros. Abordamos cuestiones relacionadas con paisajes mineros y posibles circuitos de intercambio de bienes, la existencia/ausencia de materiales metalúrgicos relacionados con la producción de estaño en yacimientos arqueológicos, el hallazgo de materiales/artefactos antiguos en minas "reabiertas" en el siglo XX, así como una pequeña introducción a la cuestión del estaño en la economía reciente (siglo XX), dando énfasis a la importancia que este metal pudo tener en la economía antigua y reciente del Noroeste Peninsular. Al mismo tiempo, presentamos una propuesta sobre las posibilidades de valorización de estos recursos, tanto en el ámbito de la historiografía de la pre y protohistoria europea, como en el ámbito patrimonial.