First comprehensive peat depositional records for tin, lead and copper associated with the antiquity of Europe's largest cassiterite deposits

► Investigations of peat core profiles in SW Britain enable us to address the use of tin in antiquity. ► The first prolonged elevation of tin influx to a peat profile corresponds to Roman occupation. ► There was a collapse in production during the early Anglo-Saxon period. ► There was a re-expansion in tin production during the later Anglo-Saxon period. ► British tin appears to be the source of the used in wider European trade for this latter period.