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The south-eastern limits of Alpine jades (Greece and Turkey) Our aim is to identify the outer li... more The south-eastern limits of Alpine jades (Greece and Turkey)
Our aim is to identify the outer limits of the circulation of Alpine jade axe- and adze-heads, in Greece and Asia Minor. While the existence of several polished axe/adze-heads of ‘chloromelanite’ or ‘jadeite’ had already been noted by H. Fischer in the 1880s, their origin had not been pinpointed. The issue is complicated by the fact that sources of jades (jadeitites, omphacitites and jadeite-eclogites) exist in the north of the island of Syros, and these may have been exploited during the Neolithic. Thus, there could theoretically have been at least two source areas for the jade axe- and adze-heads that circulated in this zone of the Balkans: the Italian Alps (namely the massifs of Mont Viso and Mont Beigua, 1700 and 1600 km away as the crow flies) on the one hand, and the island of Syros in the Cyclades on the other. It is therefore necessary to find a way of differentiating, by means of lithology and typological characteristics, the examples that had been imported from a long distance away (i.e. the Italian Alps) from those made of Syros jades, which will have travelled a shorter distance.
In order to interpret the results of the non-destructive analytical techniques developed by Projet JADE – namely spectroradiometric analysis and research into diagnostic macroscopic features – it was necessary to build a valid reference collection of raw material samples from the Cyclades, to add to the reference collection of Alpine samples that already exists. In 2014, two prospecting expeditions were mounted to collect such samples from Syros, Sifnos and Tinos, from locations that are known, from the geological literature, to have outcrops of ‘jadeitites’ (in a general sense). While the outcrops on Sifnos and Tinos can be excluded from further consideration, because they are very small and had never been exploited during the Neolithic, those on Syros, in contrast, are of interest. Moreover, we have been able to demonstrate, from working debris, that some of these outcrops on Syros had been exploited during the Neolithic. (See this volume, Chapter 1, p. 25.) There is no standardisation in the artefacts made from these jades, and this is probably due to the difficulty of working material that is so markedly saccharoidal in texture. It was not possible to date the working debris precisely, because it is heavily eroded and has been lying around on exposed surfaces for millennia.
Having undertaken the necessary petrographical comparisons between Syros and Alpine jades, we turned our attention to analysing the polished axe- and adze-heads, found in Greece and Asia Minor, that seemed to belong to the family of jadeitites. Our study of old collections and of assemblages from dated settlements (at Dimini and Cukurici Höyük) enabled us to identify a total of 52 candidate items. This small number highlights the relative rarity of these precious rocks within the ground stone assemblages from settlement sites.
Our analyses showed that 28 examples most probably originated in the relatively nearby sources on Syros and that 14 had probably come from the distant Alpine sources, from both Mont Viso and Mont Beigua. Ten could not be attributed to a specific source area.
The geographical distribution of axe- and adze-heads of Syros jades seems to be limited to the Aegean; however we can still expect some surprises as well. To judge from the radiocarbon dates from Cukurici Höyük, exploitation of the Syros sources will have been underway by 6300–6100 BC – that is, during the Final Neolithic, according to the Anatolian chronological scheme. Thus, the circulation of objects of Syros jade began well before the earliest exploitation of jades on Mont Viso which, according to radiocarbon dating, will not have occurred any earlier than the middle of the 5th millennium BC. All of the Syros jade axe/adze-heads are workaday tools, typologically variable and only lightly polished, like their non-jade counterparts used as woodworking tools found elsewhere in this region. The distance travelled by an axe/adze-head of Syros jade would seem to be more than 500 km as the crow flies, restraining the eastward expansion of Alpine jades.
The axe- and adze-heads made from Alpine jades are somehow different from those made from Syros jades. With their very regular, symmetrical shapes and their highly polished, often glossy surface, these objects often stand out as ‘black sheep’ in the collections and assemblages that we studied. Thus they can often be spotted with the naked eye, thanks to their high standard of manufacture and to the use of raw material of very high quality. It also appears that, of all the axe- and adze-heads made from North Italian jades, it was those made from jadeitite that travelled over very long distances. Indeed, there seems to have been a general preference in Europe for examples made from jadeitite: this rock type dominates at distances over 600 to 700 km as the crow flies from the Alpine source areas.
A good number of these Alpine axe- and adze-heads had been hafted and used for chopping down trees and working wood. However, their long use, their successive episodes of repolishing in order to make them thinner and the care taken to curate them over as long a period as possible would seem to show that they had a particular value. Nevertheless, we cannot assess what the ideological value of these objects had been – as we had been able to do for Bulgarian finds (Pétrequin, Cassen et al. 2012b – because no Alpine axe- or adze-head has been found in a hoard or a funerary context in Greece or the Asia Minor.
Two large adze-heads of Bégude type can be dated to the first half of the 5th millennium. In the case of the large axehead found in Istanbul – a Chelles-type example that had been thinned through repolishing – a date in the middle of the 5th millennium can be proposed, by analogy with identical artefacts found in sealed contexts in Bulgaria.
Finally, the question of the routes taken by Alpine jade axe- and adze-heads from North Italy to Greece and Asia Minor cannot be answered with any degree of certainty. In our current state of knowledge, the most likely route from the north of the Adriatic would seem to be via the Danube and Bulgaria, insofar as the Kodžadermen-Gumelnița-Karanovo VI culture complex constitutes a link between the plain of the Danube upstream of its delta and the north coast of the Aegean Sea.
However the analysis of a long polished blade of omphacitite, found in the Antioch region, could suggest the possible presence in Turkey of jadeitite outcrops not yet discovered.
by Pierre Pétrequin, Anne-Marie Pétrequin, Michel G L Errera, Renato Nisbet, Viviana Germana Mancusi, Ramon Fábregas Valcarce, Carlos Rodríguez Rellán, István Dr. Zalai-Gaál, Valentina Voinea, Anett Osztás, Senica Țurcanu, Done Serbanescu, Dimitar Chernakov, Barbara Horejs, Samuel van Willigen, Frederic Herbaut, Yvan PAILLER, Anthony Denaire, Florian Eibl, frederic jallet, luc jaccottey, Ute Seidel, Emanuele Costa UnivTo, Laurent Lescop, Valentin Grimaud, and Estelle Gauthier
Les concepts d’échange, de circulation et de réseaux sont aujourd’hui des points particulièrem... more Les concepts d’échange, de circulation et de réseaux sont aujourd’hui
des points particulièrement forts des problématiques sur le Néolithique européen. Un précédent projet ANR « JADE » (2006-2009) a été consacré aux haches polies en jades alpins (jadéitites, omphacitites, éclogites fines), qui ont circulé en Europe occidentale pendant les Ve et IVe millénaires av. J.-C. Des transferts spectaculaires ont été identifiés sur des distances de 1 700 km à vol d’oiseau, depuis l’Italie du Nord jusqu’à l’Atlantique vers l’ouest et la mer Noire vers l’est.
L’image qui se dégage des cartes de répartition et des contextes de
dépôt en Europe occidentale est celle de sociétés très inégalitaires où les échanges étaient contrôlés par les puissants, avec la manipulation d’objets consacrés ou sacrifiés qui touchaient le domaine de la compétition et de l’affichage social bien sûr, mais aussi les rituels religieux, la mythologie et la reproduction idéelle des sociétés.
Le nouveau projet, JADE 2 (2013-2017), également soutenu par
l’ANR, a été élargi à l’ensemble de l’Europe – de l’Irlande à la Turquie et
du Danemark jusqu’à Malte – où les transferts de jades ont été alimentés par deux centres de production : l’île égéenne de Syros d’une part, où les plus anciennes exploitations remontent au moins à la fin du VIIe millénaire, et les massifs alpins du Mont Beigua et du Mont Viso d’autre part, dont les productions débutent probablement vers le milieu du VIe millénaire.
Avec un inventaire systématique des jades et de leur contexte de
dépôt, en particulier en Europe centrale et dans les Balkans, ce nouveau
projet vise à éclairer les valeurs sociales qui sous-tendaient la circulation à longue distance des grandes haches (et des anneaux-disques alpins à un moindre degré) dans un réseau complexe qui couvrait 3 200 km d’est en ouest. La démarche est fondée sur la comparaison entre les interprétations idéelles des producteurs d’outils et d’objets-signes en jade (Piémont) et l’imaginaire social des receveurs lointains dans les marges de l’Europe. L’étude des fonctions techniques et sociales des lames polies en jades alpins, réinterprétées au cours des transferts entre Atlantique et mer Noire, permet alors de souligner avec plus d’éclat encore la bipartition de l’Europe néolithique pendant le Ve millénaire, avec deux systèmes opposés de valeurs sociales et de conceptions religieuses, l’un fondé sur les jades alpins et l’autre sur le cuivre et sur l’or.
L’ouvrage comprend de plus l’inventaire général illustré des grandes
haches en jades alpins (mise à jour en 2016) et de très nombreuses cartes de répartition des types les plus significatifs.
S. Cassen dir. avec C. Boujot, J. Vaquero, Éléments d'architecture. Exploration d'un tertre funéraire à Lannec er Gadouer (Erdeven, Morbihan). Constructions et reconstructions dans le Néolithique morbihannais. Propositions pour une lecture symbolique
Sauf indication contraire, photographies et dessins sont de Serge CASSEN.
Bulletin archéologique du Vexin français, Jan 1, 2001
Revue archéologique de Picardie, Jan 1, 1997
Le site de Chambly (Oise) matérialise l'avancée du courant de néolithisation... more Le site de Chambly (Oise) matérialise l'avancée du courant de néolithisation vers les zones littorales. Il offre l'avantage de se trouver à un carrefour géographique et chrono-culturel qui voit la collusion des groupes du Rubané récent du Bassin parisien et de Villeneuve-Saint-...
Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Jan 1, 2004
Page 1. Fr?d?ric HERBAUT, Guirec QUERR? La parure n?olithique en variscite dans le sud de l&a... more Page 1. Fr?d?ric HERBAUT, Guirec QUERR? La parure n?olithique en variscite dans le sud de l'Armorique R?sum? Les grands tumulus carnac?ens sont parmi les plus impressionnantes archi tectures fun?raires du N?olithique de la France. ...
Drafts by Frederic Herbaut
The south-eastern limits of Alpine jades (Greece and Turkey) Our aim is to identify the outer li... more The south-eastern limits of Alpine jades (Greece and Turkey)
Our aim is to identify the outer limits of the circulation of Alpine jade axe- and adze-heads, in Greece and Asia Minor. While the existence of several polished axe/adze-heads of ‘chloromelanite’ or ‘jadeite’ had already been noted by H. Fischer in the 1880s, their origin had not been pinpointed. The issue is complicated by the fact that sources of jades (jadeitites, omphacitites and jadeite-eclogites) exist in the north of the island of Syros, and these may have been exploited during the Neolithic. Thus, there could theoretically have been at least two source areas for the jade axe- and adze-heads that circulated in this zone of the Balkans: the Italian Alps (namely the massifs of Mont Viso and Mont Beigua, 1700 and 1600 km away as the crow flies) on the one hand, and the island of Syros in the Cyclades on the other. It is therefore necessary to find a way of differentiating, by means of lithology and typological characteristics, the examples that had been imported from a long distance away (i.e. the Italian Alps) from those made of Syros jades, which will have travelled a shorter distance.
In order to interpret the results of the non-destructive analytical techniques developed by Projet JADE – namely spectroradiometric analysis and research into diagnostic macroscopic features – it was necessary to build a valid reference collection of raw material samples from the Cyclades, to add to the reference collection of Alpine samples that already exists. In 2014, two prospecting expeditions were mounted to collect such samples from Syros, Sifnos and Tinos, from locations that are known, from the geological literature, to have outcrops of ‘jadeitites’ (in a general sense). While the outcrops on Sifnos and Tinos can be excluded from further consideration, because they are very small and had never been exploited during the Neolithic, those on Syros, in contrast, are of interest. Moreover, we have been able to demonstrate, from working debris, that some of these outcrops on Syros had been exploited during the Neolithic. (See this volume, Chapter 1, p. 25.) There is no standardisation in the artefacts made from these jades, and this is probably due to the difficulty of working material that is so markedly saccharoidal in texture. It was not possible to date the working debris precisely, because it is heavily eroded and has been lying around on exposed surfaces for millennia.
Having undertaken the necessary petrographical comparisons between Syros and Alpine jades, we turned our attention to analysing the polished axe- and adze-heads, found in Greece and Asia Minor, that seemed to belong to the family of jadeitites. Our study of old collections and of assemblages from dated settlements (at Dimini and Cukurici Höyük) enabled us to identify a total of 52 candidate items. This small number highlights the relative rarity of these precious rocks within the ground stone assemblages from settlement sites.
Our analyses showed that 28 examples most probably originated in the relatively nearby sources on Syros and that 14 had probably come from the distant Alpine sources, from both Mont Viso and Mont Beigua. Ten could not be attributed to a specific source area.
The geographical distribution of axe- and adze-heads of Syros jades seems to be limited to the Aegean; however we can still expect some surprises as well. To judge from the radiocarbon dates from Cukurici Höyük, exploitation of the Syros sources will have been underway by 6300–6100 BC – that is, during the Final Neolithic, according to the Anatolian chronological scheme. Thus, the circulation of objects of Syros jade began well before the earliest exploitation of jades on Mont Viso which, according to radiocarbon dating, will not have occurred any earlier than the middle of the 5th millennium BC. All of the Syros jade axe/adze-heads are workaday tools, typologically variable and only lightly polished, like their non-jade counterparts used as woodworking tools found elsewhere in this region. The distance travelled by an axe/adze-head of Syros jade would seem to be more than 500 km as the crow flies, restraining the eastward expansion of Alpine jades.
The axe- and adze-heads made from Alpine jades are somehow different from those made from Syros jades. With their very regular, symmetrical shapes and their highly polished, often glossy surface, these objects often stand out as ‘black sheep’ in the collections and assemblages that we studied. Thus they can often be spotted with the naked eye, thanks to their high standard of manufacture and to the use of raw material of very high quality. It also appears that, of all the axe- and adze-heads made from North Italian jades, it was those made from jadeitite that travelled over very long distances. Indeed, there seems to have been a general preference in Europe for examples made from jadeitite: this rock type dominates at distances over 600 to 700 km as the crow flies from the Alpine source areas.
A good number of these Alpine axe- and adze-heads had been hafted and used for chopping down trees and working wood. However, their long use, their successive episodes of repolishing in order to make them thinner and the care taken to curate them over as long a period as possible would seem to show that they had a particular value. Nevertheless, we cannot assess what the ideological value of these objects had been – as we had been able to do for Bulgarian finds (Pétrequin, Cassen et al. 2012b – because no Alpine axe- or adze-head has been found in a hoard or a funerary context in Greece or the Asia Minor.
Two large adze-heads of Bégude type can be dated to the first half of the 5th millennium. In the case of the large axehead found in Istanbul – a Chelles-type example that had been thinned through repolishing – a date in the middle of the 5th millennium can be proposed, by analogy with identical artefacts found in sealed contexts in Bulgaria.
Finally, the question of the routes taken by Alpine jade axe- and adze-heads from North Italy to Greece and Asia Minor cannot be answered with any degree of certainty. In our current state of knowledge, the most likely route from the north of the Adriatic would seem to be via the Danube and Bulgaria, insofar as the Kodžadermen-Gumelnița-Karanovo VI culture complex constitutes a link between the plain of the Danube upstream of its delta and the north coast of the Aegean Sea.
However the analysis of a long polished blade of omphacitite, found in the Antioch region, could suggest the possible presence in Turkey of jadeitite outcrops not yet discovered.
by Pierre Pétrequin, Anne-Marie Pétrequin, Michel G L Errera, Renato Nisbet, Viviana Germana Mancusi, Ramon Fábregas Valcarce, Carlos Rodríguez Rellán, István Dr. Zalai-Gaál, Valentina Voinea, Anett Osztás, Senica Țurcanu, Done Serbanescu, Dimitar Chernakov, Barbara Horejs, Samuel van Willigen, Frederic Herbaut, Yvan PAILLER, Anthony Denaire, Florian Eibl, frederic jallet, luc jaccottey, Ute Seidel, Emanuele Costa UnivTo, Laurent Lescop, Valentin Grimaud, and Estelle Gauthier
Les concepts d’échange, de circulation et de réseaux sont aujourd’hui des points particulièrem... more Les concepts d’échange, de circulation et de réseaux sont aujourd’hui
des points particulièrement forts des problématiques sur le Néolithique européen. Un précédent projet ANR « JADE » (2006-2009) a été consacré aux haches polies en jades alpins (jadéitites, omphacitites, éclogites fines), qui ont circulé en Europe occidentale pendant les Ve et IVe millénaires av. J.-C. Des transferts spectaculaires ont été identifiés sur des distances de 1 700 km à vol d’oiseau, depuis l’Italie du Nord jusqu’à l’Atlantique vers l’ouest et la mer Noire vers l’est.
L’image qui se dégage des cartes de répartition et des contextes de
dépôt en Europe occidentale est celle de sociétés très inégalitaires où les échanges étaient contrôlés par les puissants, avec la manipulation d’objets consacrés ou sacrifiés qui touchaient le domaine de la compétition et de l’affichage social bien sûr, mais aussi les rituels religieux, la mythologie et la reproduction idéelle des sociétés.
Le nouveau projet, JADE 2 (2013-2017), également soutenu par
l’ANR, a été élargi à l’ensemble de l’Europe – de l’Irlande à la Turquie et
du Danemark jusqu’à Malte – où les transferts de jades ont été alimentés par deux centres de production : l’île égéenne de Syros d’une part, où les plus anciennes exploitations remontent au moins à la fin du VIIe millénaire, et les massifs alpins du Mont Beigua et du Mont Viso d’autre part, dont les productions débutent probablement vers le milieu du VIe millénaire.
Avec un inventaire systématique des jades et de leur contexte de
dépôt, en particulier en Europe centrale et dans les Balkans, ce nouveau
projet vise à éclairer les valeurs sociales qui sous-tendaient la circulation à longue distance des grandes haches (et des anneaux-disques alpins à un moindre degré) dans un réseau complexe qui couvrait 3 200 km d’est en ouest. La démarche est fondée sur la comparaison entre les interprétations idéelles des producteurs d’outils et d’objets-signes en jade (Piémont) et l’imaginaire social des receveurs lointains dans les marges de l’Europe. L’étude des fonctions techniques et sociales des lames polies en jades alpins, réinterprétées au cours des transferts entre Atlantique et mer Noire, permet alors de souligner avec plus d’éclat encore la bipartition de l’Europe néolithique pendant le Ve millénaire, avec deux systèmes opposés de valeurs sociales et de conceptions religieuses, l’un fondé sur les jades alpins et l’autre sur le cuivre et sur l’or.
L’ouvrage comprend de plus l’inventaire général illustré des grandes
haches en jades alpins (mise à jour en 2016) et de très nombreuses cartes de répartition des types les plus significatifs.
S. Cassen dir. avec C. Boujot, J. Vaquero, Éléments d'architecture. Exploration d'un tertre funéraire à Lannec er Gadouer (Erdeven, Morbihan). Constructions et reconstructions dans le Néolithique morbihannais. Propositions pour une lecture symbolique
Sauf indication contraire, photographies et dessins sont de Serge CASSEN.
Bulletin archéologique du Vexin français, Jan 1, 2001
Revue archéologique de Picardie, Jan 1, 1997
Le site de Chambly (Oise) matérialise l'avancée du courant de néolithisation... more Le site de Chambly (Oise) matérialise l'avancée du courant de néolithisation vers les zones littorales. Il offre l'avantage de se trouver à un carrefour géographique et chrono-culturel qui voit la collusion des groupes du Rubané récent du Bassin parisien et de Villeneuve-Saint-...
Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Jan 1, 2004
Page 1. Fr?d?ric HERBAUT, Guirec QUERR? La parure n?olithique en variscite dans le sud de l&a... more Page 1. Fr?d?ric HERBAUT, Guirec QUERR? La parure n?olithique en variscite dans le sud de l'Armorique R?sum? Les grands tumulus carnac?ens sont parmi les plus impressionnantes archi tectures fun?raires du N?olithique de la France. ...