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NEOLITHIC ‘GREENSTONE’ AXE BLADES FROM NORTHWESTERN ITALY ACROSS EUROPE: A FIRST PETROGRAPHIC COMPARISON*
Abstract
Neolithic polished stone axe blades, manufactured with uncommon lithologies such as Alpine eclogites, jades and other HP metaophiolites, were exploited from primary and secondary occurrences in Piemonte and Liguria and dominate the north Italian and south‐east French polished stone blades used as functional tools (for deforestation and woodworking). In other European countries the same lithologies are found less frequently or only occasionally as axe blades; in north‐west Europe they were frequently used for manufacturing ceremonial axes that have shapes that are not present in the Italian Neolithic tradition. This paper undertakes a preliminary examination of the case, prevalently from a petrographic point of view, comparing the well‐established Italian petroarchaeometric knowledge with the rather poorer petrographic basis of the European eclogite/jade axes. A provisional picture of the distribution of these axes in Europe is provided and some interim interpretations and open problems are discussed.
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Alpine jade axes circulated widely during the Neolithic, spanning from the Atlantic to the Black Sea.
“Alpine jade axes, sourced from Italian Alpine deposits circulated widely during the Neolithic, spanning from the Atlantic to the Black Sea (D'amico 2005, Pétrequin et al. 2013, Pétrequin et al. 2015).”
From Comparing Connectivity Patterns in Prehistoric Germany by Means of Network Analysis, Artefact and Site Distribution and a Reassessment of Human Mobility ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) (2026) · cites this paper as D'amico 2005
Alpine jade axes were transported widely but deposited in socially charged settings according to ritualized logics rather than utilitarian routing.
“This accords with long-standing work showing that Alpine jade axes (Monte Viso and related sources) were transported widely but deposited in socially charged settings, rock shelters, boulder forecourts, watery locales, graves, hoards, according to ritualized logics rather than utilitarian routing (D'amico 2005, Pétrequin et al. 2013, Pétrequin et al. 2015).”
From Comparing Connectivity Patterns in Prehistoric Germany by Means of Network Analysis, Artefact and Site Distribution and a Reassessment of Human Mobility ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) (2026) · cites this paper as D'amico 2005
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Schjerven, N., Bilotti, G., Kempf, M., & Reiter, S. S. (2026) · OPEN Archaeology · doi:10.1515/opar-2025-0077
Metadata
- Authors
- D’AMICO, C.
- Venue
- Archaeometry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2005-05
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 235-252
- ISSN
- 0003-813X
- 1475-4754
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 0
- Language
- en
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