JADE ARCHAEOLOGY Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Erlitou aesthetics, state building

Among the thousands of axeheads examined as part of Projet JADE's study of axeheads made from Alpine rock, several dozens have been excluded from our inventory because they are not certainly of Neolithic date and not certainly from... more

Among the thousands of axeheads examined as part of Projet JADE's study of axeheads made from Alpine rock, several dozens have been excluded from our inventory because they are not certainly of Neolithic date and not certainly from Europe.
Many were found on European soil and were recorded as being genuine archaeological discoveries. But in fact these are ethnographic axeheads, brought back by sailors or voyagers. In the Netherlands, most come from the western part of New Guinea ; in Britain, from Papua New Guinea and New Zealand ; in France, from New Caledonia and Polynesia, and in the Canary Isles, from the Caribbean. Mapping these exotic specimens allows us, then, to re-construct, country by country, the extent of their former colonies and overseas territories.
As regards the re-use of genuine Alpine axeheads in Neolithic Europe, there are numerous examples of small axeheads that were perforated for suspension (to make them into axehead-pendants) ; this was particularly the case in France from 3200 BC.
Later still, genuine Alpine Neolithic axeheads, which had circulated around Europe between the 5th and 3rd millennia BC, were re-used - after blunting and repolishing of the blade - as metalworker’s hammers during the Chalcolithic and part of the Early Bronze Age. These re-used axeheads have been excluded from our inventory, because they were probably moved around by metalworkers, in directions different from the pattern of Neolithic axehead circulation.
Finally, in a category of “archaeological curiosities”, there are several exceptional Neolithic Alpine axeheads, found in Europe since the 16th century. Certain of these - whose original findspot is not known with certainty - were given special treatment, kept in “cabinets of curiosities” and regarded as family treasures, some being worn as jewellery or as prophylactic talismans, or even being re-shaped into a crucifix.

The paper analyzes the occurrence of bird-based imagery on Liangzhu culture jades

Il rinvenimento nella penisola di Nicoya (Costarica) di un pendente in giadeite datato al 500 a.C. e la scoperta di giadeite “olmec blue” nella valle di Motagua hanno rafforzato l’ipotesi che ci siano stati contatti tra gli Olmechi e la... more

Il rinvenimento nella penisola di Nicoya (Costarica) di un pendente in giadeite datato al 500 a.C. e la scoperta di giadeite “olmec blue” nella valle di Motagua hanno rafforzato l’ipotesi che ci siano stati contatti tra gli Olmechi e la Gran Nicoya.
Anche l’analisi iconografica dei pendenti in giadeite e pietra verde prodotti da queste due culture rafforza questa ipotesi.

Los capítuos de este libro fueron dictamidos por una comisión de especialistas. Primera edición Diciembre de 2010 © 2010 Instituto de Posgraduados de las Américas(IPA)de la Universidad de Tamkang. Reservados todos los derechos. Queda... more

Los capítuos de este libro fueron dictamidos por una comisión de especialistas. Primera edición Diciembre de 2010 © 2010 Instituto de Posgraduados de las Américas(IPA)de la Universidad de Tamkang. Reservados todos los derechos. Queda rigurosamente prohibida la reproducción parcial o total de esta obra por cualquier medio o procedimiento, incluidos la reprografía y el tratamiento informático, sin la autorización de los titulares del copyright.

Projet JADE (2006−2010) focused on the long axeheads of Alpine jades which circulated around the whole of Europe during the 5th and 4th millennia BC. The jades were exploited at high altitude in the Italian Alps, on Mont Viso near Turin... more

Projet JADE (2006−2010) focused on the long axeheads of Alpine jades which circulated around the whole of Europe during the 5th and 4th millennia BC. The jades were exploited at high altitude in the Italian Alps, on Mont Viso near Turin and on the Beigua massif near Genoa. The project identifiedthe long-distance movement of axeheads, over distances from the source areas of up to 1700 km as the crow flies, reaching the shores of the Atlantic to the west and those of the Black Sea to the east. The impression given by the distribution pattern and by the findspot contexts (at least as far as the Morbihan region of Brittany is concerned) is one of societies that were markedly inegalitarian, where the sphere of exchange practices was controlled by powerful individuals. These people manipulated objects, sacrificing and consecrating them, using them not only for competitive displays of social status but also for religious rituals, the axeheads forming part of the society’s mythology. The new project, JADE 2, seeks to findout more about the various ideological systems that lay behind the movement of these axeheads on a European scale, and to create social and historical interpretations that follow the principles laid down by an anthropological study of past societies.

The discovery in the Nicoya Peninsula (Costa Rica) of a jadeite pendant dated 500 BC and the discovery of "olmec blue" jadeite in the valley of Motagua have reinforced the hypothesis that there were contacts between Olmec and Gran Nicoya.... more

The discovery in the Nicoya Peninsula (Costa Rica) of a jadeite pendant dated 500 BC and the discovery of "olmec blue" jadeite in the valley of Motagua have reinforced the hypothesis that there were contacts between Olmec and Gran Nicoya.
Even the iconographic analysis of jadeite and green stone pendants manufactured by these two cultures strengthens this hypothesis.

On the basis of the 502 samples of Alpine rock, collected as raw material specimens or as working debris, that make up the redefine the mineralogical and petrographic signatures that would allow them to identify the origin of the axeheads... more

On the basis of the 502 samples of Alpine rock, collected as raw material specimens or as working debris, that make up the redefine the mineralogical and petrographic signatures that would allow them to identify the origin of the axeheads which circulated around western Europe during the Neolithic.
The work took the form of double-blind tests, featuring on the one hand the results of spectroradiometric analysis, together with the evidence from large petrological thin sections and from the macroscopic and low-magnfication microscopic inspection of polished blocks ; and on the other, the examina-tion of small petrological thin sections and the interpretation of compositional results obtained by XRD analysis.
A series of characteristic features is proposed for the two massifs (Mont Viso and Mont Beigua) which were the most intensively exploited during the Neolithic.
For Mont Viso, the characteristic lithologies would seem to be : massive garnetiferous jadeitites (or eclogite with jadeite) ; pseudomorphs of ‘lawsonite’ in eclogites and omphacitites ; abundant rutile in jadeitites and omphacitites ; laminar eclo-gites with a satin-like surface ; jadeitites, omphacitites and eclogites with atoll garnets or garnets with a hollow center ; massive, dark green omphacitites and fine-grained eclogites ; fine-grained bluish-green jadeitites ; jadeitites and omphacitites with green mica ; and and finally certain jadeitites and om-phacitites with a saccharoidal texture.
In the case of the Mont Beigua massif, there are lami-nar eclogites with jadeite ; jadeitites with spotty epidote inclusions ; quartz- and albite-jadeitites ; glaucophane ja-deitites and omphacitites ; blue-green jadeitites with mid-green veining ; omphacitite- and jadeitite-schists ; and glaucophanitic schists.
However, in spite of the unexpectedly high number of these potential markers, there still remain gaps in the reference collection ; so, among the jadeitite and omphacitite axe-heads, there are some where it is currently impossible to determine whether the material originated in Mont Viso or Mont Beigua. In some of these cases, there is no match with any of the reference samples.
A new analytical method is therefore called for. (See chapter 8, this book, on spectroradiometry.)

SHERIDAN A., PETREQUIN P., PETREQUIN A.M., CASSEN S., ERRERA M., GAUTHIER E. et PRODEO F., 2019.- Fifty shades of green : the irresistible attraction, use and significance of jadeitite and other green Alpine rock types in Neolithic... more

Grave Creek stone was written by a Libyan sailor and warrior in 400 BC in Finnish in Old European script. His ship was part of a fleet transporting refugees from the Po Valley of Italy to Ohio on Carthaginian Ships. His ship stayed over... more

Grave Creek stone was written by a Libyan sailor and warrior in 400 BC in Finnish in Old European script. His ship was part of a fleet transporting refugees from the Po Valley of Italy to Ohio on Carthaginian Ships. His ship stayed over in Mexico for repairs, and by the time they arrived at the mouth of the Ohio, the fleet had already left for Carthage. Then a storm destroyed their ship, leaving them alone in a wilderness. He thinks of his wife far away, of nights in a cabin. Another terrible storm comes and his mates begin to fight.
The stone was found in the upper burial chamber of the largest mound of the Adena culture in Moundsville, West Virginia. He not only survived, but became a famous chief, standing 7 ft 4 inches tall. He signed his name with a sword rebus that said, "I made many great champions."

Gates • merCeDes Guinea bueno amanDa Guzmán • ainslie Harrison • máximo Jiménez aCosta briGitte kovaCeviCH • Julie lauFFenburGer • Carlos mayo torné Julia mayo torné • DaviD mora-marín • Juan antonio murro karen o'Day • miCHelle PaWliGer... more

Gates • merCeDes Guinea bueno amanDa Guzmán • ainslie Harrison • máximo Jiménez aCosta briGitte kovaCeviCH • Julie lauFFenburGer • Carlos mayo torné Julia mayo torné • DaviD mora-marín • Juan antonio murro karen o'Day • miCHelle PaWliGer • Juan Pablo quintero Guzmán antHony J. ranere • steWart D. reDWooD • sebastián rivas estraDa Juanita sáenz samPer • silvia salGaDo González • luís a. sánCHez Herrera niCole e. smitH-Guzmán • maría aliCia uribe villeGas

GAUTHIER E., PETREQUIN P. et GABILLOT M., avec la collaboration de WELLER O., GIRAUD J. et BRIGAND R., 2017.- A method of data structuring for the study of diffusion processes of raw materials and manufactured objects, in : A. Gorgues, K.... more

GAUTHIER E., PETREQUIN P. et GABILLOT M., avec la collaboration de WELLER O., GIRAUD J. et BRIGAND R., 2017.- A method of data structuring for the study of diffusion processes of raw materials and manufactured objects, in : A. Gorgues, K. Rebay-Salisbury et R. B. Salisbury (ed.), Material chains in Late Prehistoric Europe and the Mediterranean. Time, space and technologies of production. Bordeaux, Ausonius Editions, Mémoires, 48 : 31-46, 9 fig.
The research carried out by Workgroup 3 of the ArchaeDyn II programme focuses on spatial dynamics with respect to the production, circulation and consumption of products in ancient times (Gauthier et al. 2012). Our final objective is to find a common method to apprehend the diffusion systems that can be used for various raw materials (salt, copper, etc.) or finished objects (jade axeheads, bronze palstaves, grinding stones, etc.).
The first point that should be discussed is how to structure the databases. It would be ideal, of course, to work from data collected in order to study the spatial dynamics of diffusion processes (in their different aspects concerning the production, the consumption and the circulation) of specific archaeological objects, so that they would be formatted properly to address these specific issues and to control their quality. However, the establishment of such a dataset would require the investment of several years. The challenge of ArchaeDyn II was to work with pre-existing databases, already constituted in the framework of other research programmes. These are very heterogeneous data (geographical extent, scale, period considered, exhaustivity of the inventory, reliability of the spatial repartition, etc.) and above all, they are not formatted as we need.
Most of the databases that were available were constituted to be simple inventories, recorded in single tables. Some of them take the form of a listing of artefacts with a more or less precise indication of their spatial location when discovered (at best at the level of a given site, most often on the centroid of the municipality). Within these tables, artefacts are described one by one, providing information on their origin, their state, the location of the discovery, etc. Others have the form of a corpus of the archaeological sites, which yielded the objects or the products under study. In that case, the information is summarized (number of objects, total weight, proportions of different materials, etc.). For these two manners of organizing the data, space is only recorded as an attribute of the sites (simply the location of the discovery), as well as the time which is indicated generally in the form of a phase determined by the typo-chronology. Principally, they neither consider all the places implied nor the entire "career" of the object . This article proposes a theoretical way of data structuring, which would allow their integration into a GIS.
This is above all a theoretical exercise, however, we neither intend to make a conceptual work nor to return to the various archaeological theories to discuss whether they are to be followed or not. The novelty in this work does not lie in the concepts it puts forward (defined mostly in the 1970’), but in our proposition of their organisation, through the creation of a model in which these terms find their connections, and in its adaptability. Indeed, the suggested model is designed to be a general one, so that it can subsequently be adapted to the various materials or products under study.

The Maya of the Preclassic and Classic Periods probably built the Mental Time Line (MTL) with the past on the left side. This is demonstrated by the figures concerning the enthronement of their sovereign, engraved on jadeite belt plaques... more

The Maya of the Preclassic and Classic Periods probably built the Mental Time Line (MTL) with the past on the left side. This is demonstrated by the figures concerning the enthronement of their sovereign, engraved on jadeite belt plaques and carved on many bas-reliefs.

Several large axehead-chisels of nephrite have been identified in a hoard of axeheads and in one of the Carnacean tu-muli in the Morbihan. No plausible source had been proposed for these objects, which are exceptional in Europe, there... more

Several large axehead-chisels of nephrite have been identified in a hoard of axeheads and in one of the Carnacean tu-muli in the Morbihan. No plausible source had been proposed for these objects, which are exceptional in Europe, there being only seven further examples known, from Switzerland, France, Germany and Great Britain. We propose to test the hypothesis that the source of the stone is in the Valais, exploring a nephrite outcrop - one of several possible outcrops in this region - at Les Haudères (Swiss Valais, Switzerland), located at 1 950 metres above sea level. This hypothesis is based on the fact that a considerable amount of evidence exists for the sawing of nephrite in the upper Rhône valley around the town of Sion, where the number of large, part-ly-sawn plaques of nephrite has increased in recent years.
But an hypothesis such as this is associated with several problems. The dating of the Neolithic sites in the Valais that have produced plaques or other traces of sawing are relati-vely late, with nothing anterior to 4300-4200 BC, whereas the oldest of the axehead-chisels found in the Carnac area could date as far back as the mid-5th millennium. Moreover, other sources of nephrite that were exploited during the Neolithic are known to exist, in the Ariège (Pyrénées) and also probably in the Grisons (Swiss Alps). The application of spectroradiometric analysis allows us to clarify the situa-tion, while the question of chronology can be addressed through a systematic study of the archaeological context of finds made outside of the Alpine region : one example is the nephrite axehead from la Baume de Gonvillars (Haute-Saône), attributed to the Rössen Culture around 4500 BC.
Currently the most plausible hypothesis - albeit one that is not yet demonstrated with sufficient rigour from the point of view of petrography - is that nephrite artefacts were made in the Valais, and then fed into the circulation of the large axeheads of Alpine stone made around Mont Viso.

The study of nearly 1,800 large axeheads made of Alpine jades has allowed us to identify their source areas in the Italian Alps and their diffusion over distances up to 1,700 km as the crow flies, above all in a north-westerly direction... more

The study of nearly 1,800 large axeheads made of Alpine jades has allowed us to identify their source areas in the Italian Alps and their diffusion over distances up to 1,700 km as the crow flies, above all in a north-westerly direction and towards the Atlantic. Moreover, a Europe-wide typological approach has revealed that the shape of these axeheads - at least as far as the examples made of the rarest and most beautiful rock type (jadeitite) are concerned - had in some cases been transformed several times over, in order to create original objects and hence to en-hance their value in exchanges.
We must, then, ask what was the social meaning of these ‘object-signs’ of jade, and what were the concepts which lay behind their circulation over distances which far exceeded those travelled by most other artefacts. The rarity and preciousness of the raw material is evidently implica-ted in these beliefs, as we can see from other jade objects, be they archaeological or ethnographic, which were used in central America, on the Antilles, in China and in New Zealand by markedly hierarchical societies with religious concepts that buttressed the power of the elites. Nor was the near-ubiquitous choice of the axe as an ‘object-sign’ in any way arbitrary ; rather, it was based on the general value of this tool used by farmers in a forest environment. The axe stood for certain social and politi-cal functions that were dominated by men, representing virility and violence. Likewise, the choice of jades was not random, since this precious stone, remarkably tough and luminous, often seems to have been associated with water, with lightning, with snakes and with eternity.
A fundamental observation to make is that the long polished axeheads of Alpine jade have most frequently been disco-vered in isolation - that is to say, outwith the archaeological context of a settlement or a grave. This absence of a conventional context must, however, be regarded as being of key significance in indicating the idealised value that had been accorded to these ‘object-signs’ of stone. Ancient and more recent discoveries of Alpine jade axeheads (and in-deed of axeheads made from flint or from other rocks from regionally-specificsources) have allowed us to state firmly that these objects had been deliberately deposited in the natural landscape, be it singly, in pairs, or occasionally in larger numbers. The findspot locations are often distinctive, with most axeheads being associated with water (in the form of lakes, ponds, bogs, rivers and waterfalls), and with some others being associated with free-standing blocks of stone, with rock overhangs or with fissures. The choice that is implied in these places of deposition evokes, unequivo-cally, certain sacred sites that are known from archaeology and ethnology : such sites are located at specific points in the landscape where communication with the supernatural Beings who control the fate of the living could take place. The representations of axes and axeheads that are engra-ved on the standing stones in the Morbihan lead us to the same conclusion.
If we accept this interpretation which invokes the domains of mythology, religion and social inequalities, then the spatial distribution of jade ‘object-signs’ in western Europe becomes easier to comprehend, as does the practice of polishing some axeheads made from the finest jadeitites to achieve a mirror-like sheen. Furthermore, the deliberate burning or breaking of some axeheads implies a sacrificial act, in which the objects were consecrated to Otherworldly powers ; the use of fire in this act of destruction echoes its use in the creation of some axeheads, through the use of fire-settingto extract the rock in the high Alps. Thus, the circulation of large Alpine axeheads was closely linked to a belief system that was based on the premise of their being a social inequality, in the func-tioning of the world, between men and the supernatural forces who possessed the ultimate power.
Given this context, it is therefore not surprising to find that the commonly-accepted terms ‘axehead for display’, ‘prestige axehead’ and ‘ceremonial axehead’ can neither explain nor account for the fact that these ‘object-signs’ of jade are virtually absent from settlement contexts (except at the beginning of their currency at the end of the 6th and at the end of their use during the first half of the 4th millennium BC). Similarly, the presence of jade axeheads in funerary contexts is rare : there are some modestly-sized polished Alpine axeheads in certain graves in the source area (North Italy, in the Square-Mouthed Pottery Culture), and some in male graves dating to a late phase in the use of Alpine rock (at the end of the 5th millennium and the first half of the 4th millennium).
The status of the individuals who were interred in the mas-sive mounds in the Carnac area of the Gulf of Morbihan, accompanied by numerous large Alpine axeheads and by other objects imported over long distances, is therefore all the more exceptional and demands to be explained. However, we should not make the common mistake of simply regarding these individuals as ‘Big Man’ chiefs, operating in a system based on conspicuous consumption ; such an interpretation ignores the religious basis of the socio-political organisation. The evidence encourages us to regard this society - which produced the earliest megalithic architecture in Europe around the middle of the 5th millennium, together with a whole repertoire of symbolic imagery (inclu-ding the axe), engraved on extraordinary standing stones- as one which was markedly inegalitarian, with some men having acquired an intermediary status between the elite and the supernatural powers. Such individuals would have been theocrats, ‘divine kings’, akin to those described by ethnographers for certain parts of Africa and Oceania, with the unstable ‘kingdom’ of Tonga being probably the clearest example. Despite the long distance (in time and space) between these societies and the ancient society of the Carnac region, the analogy seems justified.
Our proposed interpretation of the long-distance exchange of jade objects - above all towards north-west Europe - is thus based on our recognition of the idealised function of long axeheads within markedly inegalitarian societies, of which the most extreme version was located around the Gulf of Morbihan. In other words, the control of the exchange of these ‘object-signs’ which were destined to be consecrated or sacrificed would have been wholly in the hands of a small fraction of the elite. These few individuals would have acquired them not so much for making a direct statement of their privileged status within society, but rather to gain and reinforce their prestige, fame and religious power through offering the jade objects to the Otherworldly powers in order to ensure the (conceptual) reproduction of the world.

Using models derived from our ethno-archaeological work in New Guinea, in 2003 we succeded in finding different sources of Alpine jades, after a dozen years of prospecting in the high Alps between Sesia in the north and Trebbia in the... more

Using models derived from our ethno-archaeological work in New Guinea, in 2003 we succeded in finding different sources of Alpine jades, after a dozen years of prospecting in the high Alps between Sesia in the north and Trebbia in the south-east. Analyses by spectroradio-metry and by X-ray diffraction, together with petrographic thin-sectioning, was essential to the identification and characterisation of the raw materials of each region.
In the Monte Viso massif, five very important primary sour-ces (or secondary sources close to these) had been exploited at a height of between 1 500 and 2 400 metres above sea level : Barant, Alpetto-Murel, Bulè, Milanese and Porco.
In the massif of Monte Beigua (or, to adopt the term used by geologists, the Voltri Group), some secondary sources of jades were identified in the west of the area (in the high valley of the Erro), in the centre (high valley of the Orba) and in the east (high valleys of the Lemme and of the Ardana). As for primary sources, these are limited to a few blocks of jadeitite (at Celle Ligure) or to rounded masses of eclogitic rocks (at Urbe) or of amphibolitic rocks, as at Sassello, Chapel of Rocca Colombo (where there are traces of exploitation). In contrast to Monte Viso, the conditions of prospection and the fossilisation of traces of Neolithic exploitation are much less favourable, due to the intensity of the torrent-based ravine formation process.
It is likely that these two regions - which contain the ma-jority of the sources of Alpine jades - were not the only source areas to be exploited during the Neolithic. Other massifs, with more modest supplies, still need to be ex-plored in detail, such as the area around the Val de Suse and the valley of the Orco.
As for the Alpine nephrites that are attested in certain hoards in the Gulf of Morbihan around the middle of the fifth millennium BC, it is in Valais, in the region of Sion (Switzerland), where one of the most likely source areas exists. This lies close to a primary source of calc-amphibolite at Haudères (in the Val de Bagnes, at 1 900 metres), but other sites may yet await discovery.

Spectroradiometry is an analytical technique that is non-destructive, rapid, portable and cheap. As with thin-section petrography or X-rays diffraction analysis, for example, it is based on comparing specimens with re-ference material of... more

Spectroradiometry is an analytical technique that is non-destructive, rapid, portable and cheap. As with thin-section petrography or X-rays diffraction analysis, for example, it is based on comparing specimens with re-ference material of known origin. Although petrographic and other reference collections have existed for several decades and have long since been documented fully, the same cannot be said for spectroradiometry. This is mostly due to its extreme sensitivity to numerous para-meters that are not directly related to mineral or chemi-cal composition - an effect termed the ‘matrix effect’. While this might for a long time have seemed to be an inconvenience - it was not until the 1970s that spectroradiometry began to be used (for purposes linked to remote sensing and to the exploration of Mars) - the matrix effect in fact constitutes the method’s principal point of interest since, in certain cases, it allows one to undertake far finercomparisons than those possible using any other method.
Since 1999, spectroradiometry has been used to analyse several thousand Neolithic artefacts (small and large axeheads, beads, bangles and other items of jewellery) and it is often possible, if one has an adequate set of reference material, to pinpoint the source of the raw material. Thanks to the exploration of the Alpine massif by Pierre and Anne-Marie Pétrequin, as part of their research into the origin of jadeitites, a large number of wellprovenanced raw material samples have been collected and analysed. These form the basis of the reference collection of Alpine greenstones which currently comprises almost 2 500 spectra. The success of these prospections in revealing previously unknown sources of European jadeitite has allowed us, through statistical analysis, to assess the representativity of debitage deriving from raw material blocks that had been completely worked out long ago.
In studying the spectra relating to the large European axeheads, it was first necessary to undertake a general synthesis and to define a certain number of representative and characteristic spectrofacies. Each of these then needed to be described and to be attributed, as far as possible, to a probable origin (by comparing them with the reference collection of Alpine greenstones).
Finally, the geographical distribution of all the axe-heads attributed to an individual spectrofacies needed to be studied. In order to achieve this, all the spectra of the large European axeheads were compared using the classic statistical method as used in remote sensing. In this way, some 1 117 spectra have been allocated to 178 ‘endmembers’. These were then described and analysed, and the main results were synthesised into a diagnostic key. Several subsequent regroupings and simplifications led to the definition of the principal spectrofacies. These spectrofacies therefore represent, statistically, the full range of the spectra relating to the large European axeheads and each newly-determined spectrum can be compared with each of these. Some spectrofacies represent raw materials that did not diffuse far from their place of origin, while others have a distribution that extends over much of Europe. Over half of the spectrofacies represent the most abundant varieties of jadeitites - a fact that demonstrates well the sen-sitivity of the method as applied to these rocks. In contrast, the eclogites, omphacitites and basalts, for example, are only represented by a small number of spectrofacies.
It is thus possible, by using spectrofacies, to rifine significantly our picture of the currents of circulation over which certain large axeheads travelled from their raw material extraction zones.

Gates • merCeDes Guinea bueno amanDa Guzmán • ainslie Harrison • máximo Jiménez aCosta briGitte kovaCeviCH • Julie lauFFenburGer • Carlos mayo torné Julia mayo torné • DaviD mora-marín • Juan antonio murro karen o'Day • miCHelle PaWliGer... more

Gates • merCeDes Guinea bueno amanDa Guzmán • ainslie Harrison • máximo Jiménez aCosta briGitte kovaCeviCH • Julie lauFFenburGer • Carlos mayo torné Julia mayo torné • DaviD mora-marín • Juan antonio murro karen o'Day • miCHelle PaWliGer • Juan Pablo quintero Guzmán antHony J. ranere • steWart D. reDWooD • sebastián rivas estraDa Juanita sáenz samPer • silvia salGaDo González • luís a. sánCHez Herrera niCole e. smitH-Guzmán • maría aliCia uribe villeGas

Barely two centuries fter the appearance of the first archaeologi cally-visible elements that served to define the earliest Neolithic in the west of France around 4900 BC – that is, domestic buildings, pottery, a distinctive flint... more

Barely two centuries fter the appearance of the first archaeologi cally-visible elements that served to define the earliest Neolithic in the west of France around 4900 BC – that is, domestic buildings, pottery, a distinctive flint technology, and other aspects of material culture that reproduced the norms that had been established in the Paris Basin and on the middle Loire river – along the southern shores of Brittany there was a sudden and unexpected ‘accu-mulation of concepts’ among the hunter-gatherer-fisher communities who lived there. The emergence of an extremely inegalitarian political structure was expressed in terms of massive standing stones and colossal funerary mounds, architectural constructs that were unique in Europe at this time and which constituted the earliest permanent architecture in the region. These monuments were funerary and symbolic in nature, being associated with the most extraordinary accumulation of objects made from rare and exotic materials. Moreover, the represen-tations of the world that appeared as engraved im-ages on the standing stones constitute visible signs of a divided society. By tacking between two extremes, from symbol to material within the protean phenomenon that we call megalithism, this contribution sets out to capture a sense of the distinction that was being ex-pressed by this élite – a distinction that did not just define inequality in that society, but also differentiated it from contemporary groups elsewhere and from its successors in southern Brittany.

Two different groups of green stones with a distant origin are found together in the Neolithic tombs of the Carnac Region (Brittany, France): Alpine jades (jadeitite, omphacitite, eclogite, nephrite) were used as raw material for polished... more

Two different groups of green stones with a distant origin are found together in the Neolithic tombs of the Carnac Region (Brittany, France): Alpine jades (jadeitite, omphacitite, eclogite, nephrite) were used as raw material for polished axes and disc-rings, while the Iberian callaïs (variscite, turquoise) for pendants and beads. The way in which these transfers took place will be the subject of this paper, highlighting the specific features of each geographical area. With such aim in mind, the rows of steles and the iconographic programmes inscribed on the standing stones of the study area will be analyzed to propose a comparison of their respective symbolic systems. While the land routes from the Alps begin to be better traced for the 5th millennium, the sea routes to/from the Iberian Peninsula remain theoretical but very promising. We will offer several arguments in favour of the later hypothesis.

Around the middle of the 5th millennium, the elite in the Gulf of Morbihan transformed certain large axeheads made of Alpine rocks, especially those of jadeitite. What they were doing was to create new types of axehead that were original... more

Around the middle of the 5th millennium, the elite in the Gulf of Morbihan transformed certain large axeheads made of Alpine rocks, especially those of jadeitite. What they were doing was to create new types of axehead that were original and hard to imitate, which they then deposi-ted in monumental graves or ‘planted’ upright at specific locations in the ritual landscape. These ‘Carnac - type’ axeheads - comprising those of Saint-Michel and Tumiac types (some of the latter having perforations through their butts), with blades that project from the sides to varying degrees - resulted from the re-shaping, through polishing, of larger Alpine axeheads. The latter had been treated as though they were simply roughouts, made from a particularly precious exotic raw material, destined to be re-conceptualised and re-worked.
Several dozen of these Carnac-type axeheads were subsequently ‘injected’ into the system of long-distance exchanges during the second half of the 5th millennium. Some of these ancient Alpine axeheads, having already travelled over several hundred kilometres to Brittany, then travelled similar distances again, ending up in north-west Spain, northern Germany and Italy (with examples from Emilia Romagna and Puglia).
In western Europe, the value of these ‘object-signs’, associated with the religious grammar of the Gulf of Morbihan, was such that the jade Carnac-style axeheads were copied in local rocks, such as flint in the case of the Saint-Michel copies in the Paris Basin and in Denmark, sillimanite in the case of the Cangas-type axeheads in Spain, and serpentinite in the case of the Zug-type in Switzerland.
The date of these imitations allows us to form an idea of the speed at which the originals travelled from Brittany to the interior of the Continent. The axehead found at Laterza was found in a final Serra d’Alto/Diana context, dating towards the end of the 5th millennium. The earliest Zug-type axehead can be assigned to the 43rd/42nd centuries BC. As for Cangas-type axeheads, one could plausibly suggest that they also appeared towards the end of the 5th millennium.
In this chronological context, the circulation of Carnac-type axeheads can be seen to have accompanied the expan-sion of the religious symbolism of the Gulf of Morbihan (as shown in the form of stelae and engravings) along the Atlantic coast and towards the interior of Continental Europe.

Thanks to programme JADE, our research into the fu-nerary assemblages of Catalonia has allowed us to demonstrate that the arrival of Alpine jade axeheads (co-ming mostly from the Mont Viso massif) was probably no earlier than the end of... more

Thanks to programme JADE, our research into the fu-nerary assemblages of Catalonia has allowed us to demonstrate that the arrival of Alpine jade axeheads (co-ming mostly from the Mont Viso massif) was probably no earlier than the end of the 5th millennium BC. The peak period of importation was during the first quarter of the 4th millennium BC. At this time, there seems to have been a strong correlation between the presence of these Alpine axeheads and the arrival of cores of heat-treated Bedoulian flint ; both have often been found in the assemblages from the richest graves. It therefore appears that influence from the Chassey culture, and the operation of the network of contacts around which Vaucluse flint circulated, were responsible for the late re-orientation of the circulation pattern of certain Alpine jades across the Pyrenees, in the direction of the people who were mining variscite.
The single Carnac-type axehead found at Collbatò attests to the intrusion of an Alpine jade axehead that had initially been imported to Brittany, and subsequently repolished in the Morbihan, before being exported once again, towards south-west France and as far as Catalonia. It may have constituted an item that had been exchanged for the variscite from Gavà that was being exported northwards to Armorica at this time.
It should also be noted that, among the range of grave goods, polished axeheads of Alpine jade are preferentially found in the richest graves. Even though none of these axeheads is exceptionally large, nor has a remarkable degree of polish, nevertheless they may well have been a material expression of the wealth and importance of certain special individuals (albeit none occupying the extraordinary status of the men who were buried, around the middle of the 5th millennium, around the Gulf of Morbihan or at Varna on the shores of the Black Sea). Only the grave of La Bisbal d’Empordà seems to have been of especial significancewith its unique set of gra-ve goods : a magnificent long axehead (28.5 cm long) of Puy type, very carefully polished. This raises the question of the eminent status of the individual with whom they were buried.
The study of Catalan tombs also permits us to arrive at a more precise date for the use of Puy-type jade axeheads, at least in this region. The example of Bòbila Madurel M5, placed in a circular pit, is attributed to the very beginning of the « Sepulcres de fossa » culture, at the transition of the 5th to the 4th millennia BC. The example from Bòbila Padró is slightly later : it is contemporary with the Auriac phase of the Chassey culture, between 4000 and 3850 BC. The initial diffusion of Puy-type axeheads would therefore seem to be linked with the expansion of the Chasséen (which was contemporary with the earliest copper metallurgy in northern Italy), around the end of the 5th millennium ; the latest examples of Puy-type axe-heads date to the 36th century BC in the lakeside villages of western Switzerland. The Catalan series of Alpine axe-heads includes large specimens in nephrite jade, along with others made from other tough rocks which could come from either the Valais or the Pyrenees; determining which is the case awaits the establishment of a reference collection of ultrabasic rocks in the north Pyrenees. The shapes of these axeheads are the same as those of Al-pine jade axeheads ; they are of Chelles and Puy type. There are also long chisels, which seem to be of specifically Pyrenean type (‘type Lagor’).

Having examined several thousand roughouts, flakes, anvil stones, hammerstones used for flaking and hammerstones used for pecking from the Neolithic quarries of Mont Viso and Mont Beigua and the ‘workshops’ at Rivanazzano, the authors... more

Having examined several thousand roughouts, flakes, anvil stones, hammerstones used for flaking and hammerstones used for pecking from the Neolithic quarries of Mont Viso and Mont Beigua and the ‘workshops’ at Rivanazzano, the authors propose an experimental approach to studying the chaînes opératoires used in manu-facturing axeheads and adze-heads of Alpine jades.
The simplest processes seem to be those employed at Rivanazzano, where the rock types used are very defor-med, being markedly schistose. These permit the rapid thinning of roughouts by flaking using the hammer-and-anvil technique. By contrast, with markedly grainy non-schistose rock types, pecking followed by grinding was the preferred technique. The working-up of flakes of rock types whose texture features elongated mineral laths is also attested in the quarries of Mont Viso ; this technique was mostly used to produce small polished blades destined for utilitarian use for felling trees and working wood.
But for making the long, socially valorised axeheads, it was the exploitation of thermal flakes obtained through fire-setting that prevailed. This produced long curving flakes that could then be worked up by direct flaking or hammer-and-anvil flaking.
The technique of sawing, using thin plaques of wood along with sand and water, is attested from the middle of the 5th millennium and was particularly used from the end of that millennium. A specific method has been observed, featu-ring the creation of a narrow groove using the saw, then enlarging it by pecking, and finally sawing again.
The process of polishing - which was laborious, given the extreme toughness of the jadeitites, omphacitites and eclo-gites used - was probably undertaken by alternating phases of grinding successive facets with episodes of pecking. In every case, no more than three grammes could be removed per hour through polishing, the mean amount being esta-blished as around two grammes per hour. This poses a pro-blem, since we know that the transformation of a large, thick, oval-sectioned axehead to a thin Carnac-style axehead could sometimes involve the abrading away of nearly a half a kilo of jadeitite or omphacitite. The length of time taken by this process of thinning through polishing, which is first attested in the Paris Basin, then in Brittany and Germany, cannot yet be estimated accurately, but it must have approached several hundred hours for the longest and thinnest polished blades. It is likely that this long additional investment of effort will have added to the social value of the large polished axeheads.
Finally, by reconstructing the types of haft used, we can see that, during their initial use in Italy, the blades of Alpine rock were hafted as adzes. When they arrived in the Morbihan region of Brittany, their method of hafting, like their polish, was modified so that they became hafted as axeheads, with the blade set at roughly right-angles to the haft. They are depicted as such on monumental standing stones.

La hache-pendeloque d'Ouff et, découverte lors de prospections de surface et donc hors contexte archéologique conventionnel, présente des caractéristiques très particulières : la matière première est un jade-néphrite d'origine alpine,... more

La hache-pendeloque d'Ouff et, découverte lors de prospections de surface et donc hors contexte archéologique conventionnel, présente des caractéristiques très particulières : la matière première est un jade-néphrite d'origine alpine, très vraisemblablement du Valais suisse. Du point de vue typologique, la forme est celle d'une hache de la deuxième moitié du V e millénaire, date plausible de son transfert depuis les Alpes suisses jusqu'en Belgique, soit sur près de 500 km à vol d'oiseau. La présence d'une gorge de suspension près du talon pourrait montrer enfi n une réutilisation tardive, pendant le Néolithique fi nal, vers la fi n du IV e millénaire ou le début du III e .

Interview paper written by Xin-yi Chen

At the same time as large axes made of Alpine jade (i.e. jadeitite, eclogite, omphacitite and other rock types) were circulating around much of western and central Europe, early metallurgy was undergoing a major development in south-east... more

At the same time as large axes made of Alpine jade (i.e. jadeitite, eclogite, omphacitite and other rock types) were circulating around much of western and central Europe, early metallurgy was undergoing a major development in south-east Europe. Heavy copper shafthole tools and abundant artefacts of gold played a significant role in the social and ritual life of the Chalcolithic populations there, just as the Alpine jade axes did at the opposite end of Europe. Even though the distribution areas of these two groups of artefacts are generally separated by a zone, several hundred kilometres wide, that is devoid of any finds of the categories in question, nevertheless various kinds of contact, both direct and indirect, between the two areas be can observed. This paper discusses these relations through an investigation of artefacts that were exchanged, in either direction, between the two groups. These may include a few copper and gold objects found in France as well as a comparatively large group of Alpine axes found in south-east Europe, especially Bulgaria.
The paper also deals with imitations of Alpine jade axes in copper. These are extremely rare and are only known from Denmark and Italy. Direct imitations of early metal tools in Alpine rock are unknown, but several types of Alpine jade axes show clear typological influences from early metal artefacts. The same is true the other way around, as a comparatively large number of copper flat axes from central Germany, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia and northern and central Italy are clearly inspired by the shape of Alpine jade axes, without being true imitations.
In the final part of the paper these observations are interpreted in an attempt, on one hand, to describe the role of Alpine jade axes in the early history of metallurgy in Europe, and on the other, to understand the importance of early metallurgy in the European perception of jade.

During the 5th millennium, polished jadeite axeheads circulated from the Italian Alps to Northern Europe, to Brittany, Catalonia, Sicily and even as far as Bulgaria. However, in the Alps, the source of the raw material was unknown to... more

During the 5th millennium, polished jadeite axeheads circulated from the Italian Alps to Northern Europe, to Brittany, Catalonia, Sicily and even as far as Bulgaria. However, in the Alps, the source of the raw material was unknown to geologists, except for some rolled cobbles that had been transported by rivers. Working on a European scale and using ethnoarcheological models developed in New Guinea, in 2002 we hypothesised that the reason why these axeheads made from Alpine rocks spread so far, among very diverse cultural groups, might be the high altitude of the quarries, far from permanent settlements.In May 2003, after a dozen years of prospecting, two of us (A.-M. P. and P. P.) discovered several Neolithic working sites on the foothills south of Monviso, between 2100-2400m in altitude. The first three AMS radiocarbon dates that we obtained, of 5210 – 4916, 4883 – 4598, and 4671 – 4389 cal BCcal., accord well with the appearance of small polished axeheads of eclogite or jadeite in VSG contexts in the Paris Basin and with the major growth in exports to Brittany, dated to 4684 – 4380 cal BC at the Tumulus Saint-Michel at Carnac.

An axehead of schistose pelite and a long lint pick were discovered in an inhumation grave dated to 4906–4709 cal BC. From its cultural context and its radiocarbon date, this grave has been assigned to the Villeneuve-Saint-Germain... more

An axehead of schistose pelite and a long lint pick were discovered in an inhumation grave dated to 4906–4709 cal BC. From its cultural context and its radiocarbon date, this grave has been assigned to the Villeneuve-Saint-Germain culture. The typological study of this axehead allows us to suggest that it was an imitation, in a non-Alpine rock, of a long polished axehead of Bégude type, whose centres of production are situated around Mont Viso and Mont Beigua in the Italian Alps, around 500 kilometres away as the crow lies. The revision of the chronology of Alpine rock axeheads has revealed that their very earliest importation into the Paris Basin and eastern France took place at the beginning of the 5th millennium. These axeheads of Bégude type, which in north Italy were used as classic workaday axeheads, were socially reinterpreted beyond the Alps, gaining in value and becoming associated with the realm of the gods, or being used as prestige items to demonstrate the supremacy of certain men. The impact of these symbols was such that it triggered the regional production of axeheads made of Fontainebleau sandstone and of pelite-quartz from the Vosges prior to the mid-ifth millennium. The axehead from Buthiers-Boulancourt thus seems to offer us one of the earliest pieces of evidence demonstrating the consequences of the circulation of prestigious artefacts from the Alps at the time of the Fiorano culture and its counterparts. This phenomenon – the circulation of prestigious Alpine artefacts – can also explain the origin of the fashion for making ring-discs in the Villeneuve-Saint-Germain culture, and the exploitation of local rock types for manufacturing polished stone workaday axeheads that imitated the shape of the large exotic Alpine axeheads.

Resumo: O muiraquitã é um artefato arqueológico raro e característico das sociedades pré-coloniais do baixo Amazonas e de área circum-caribenha. Foi confeccionado por meio de diversos tipos de minerais, sendo os mais conhecidos os de... more

Resumo: O muiraquitã é um artefato arqueológico raro e característico das sociedades pré-coloniais do baixo Amazonas e de área circum-caribenha. Foi confeccionado por meio de diversos tipos de minerais, sendo os mais conhecidos os de pedra verde, sobretudo a nefrita. Embora sua função ainda seja desconhecida, a literatura etnográfica e arqueológica sugere que estes objetos conotavam símbolos de poder, haja vista a ampla rede de circulação em que estavam inseridos. Este artigo descreve um muiraquitã encontrado na estearia da Boca do Rio, região das estearias maranhenses. As análises foram feitas por MicroRaman, com auxílio do equipamento de bancada BWTEK, da GemExpert, difração de raios X (DRX), evidenciando que o artefato foi confeccionado em tremolita/actinolita, um mineral inexistente no Maranhão. Propõe-se uma possibilidade acerca da cadeia operatória do artefato e analisam-se as possíveis redes regionais de interação comercial e simbólica nas quais este muiraquitã esteve envolvido. Palavras-chave: Muiraquitã. Estearias. Arqueologia da Amazônia. Difração de raio X. Análise por MicroRaman. Abstract: The muiraquitã is a rare and characteristic archaeological artifact of the Lower Amazon and Circum-Caribbean precolonial societies. It used to be made of various types of minerals, of which the best known are green stones, especially nephrite. Although its function is still unknown, ethnographic and archaeological literature suggests that these objects represented symbols of power, given the wide circulation network in which these artifacts were inserted. This article describes a muiraquitã found in the dwelling at Boca do Rio. The methods used in this analysis were MicroRaman together with BWTEK GemExpert and X-ray diffraction (XRD), which showed that the artifact was made of tremolite/actinolite, a mineral lacking in Maranhão. A possible operational sequence in the manufacture of the muiraquitã is proposed, as well as the possible regional networks to which it belonged.