Prehistory and antiquity thumb|alt=Photo showing a section of the Roman wall in Nantes.|Section of the Roman city wall The first inhabitants of what is now Nantes settled during the Bronze Age, later than in the surrounding regions (which have Neolithic monuments absent from Nantes). Its first inhabitants were apparently attracted by small iron and tin deposits in the region's subsoil. The area exported tin, mined in Abbaretz and Piriac, as far as Ireland. After about 1,000 years of trading, local industry appeared around 900 BC; remnants of smithies dated to the eighth and seventh centuries BC have been found in the city. Nantes may have been the major Gaulish settlement of Corbilo, on the Loire estuary, which was mentioned by the Greek historians Strabo and Polybius.
Prehistory and antiquity thumb|alt=Photo showing a section of the Roman wall in Nantes|Section of the Roman city wall The first inhabitants of what is now Nantes settled during the Bronze Age later than in the surrounding regions (which have Neolithic monuments absent from Nantes) Its first inhabitants were apparently attracted by small iron and tin deposits in the region's subsoil The area exported tin mined in Abbaretz and Piriac as far as Ireland After about 1000 years of trading local industry appeared around 900 BC; remnants of smithies dated to the eighth and seventh centuries BC have been found in the city Nantes may have been the major Gaulish settlement of Corbilo on the Loire estuary which was mentioned by the Greek historians Strabo and Polybius