Le dépôt de la Bégude-de-Mazenc (Drôme) et les dépôts de haches néolithiques en France. Note complémentaire

Abstract

In 1972, while ploughing deeply into the ground (La Bégude-de-Mazenc, Drôme), a hoard often stone axes was found. The axes had never been used and were rather big (seven of them measured from 20 to 35 cm long). They had all been shaped in the same factory, making use of a vein of diabase, a rock which can be found in the "schistes lustrés " on the Piedmontese side of the Alps. Most of these rocks are situated to the east of the limit of the watershed between France and Italy. Eight axes are spindle-shaped and a ring is engraved near the apex. They are the result of a remarquably mastered technique — the shape is perfect — and show a high degree of technology.

The adze-heads from Plemięta, Grudziądz district (Poland): Alpine jades, Armorican products and very long-distance exchanges

“…Bégude-type adze-heads were indeed tools, but in certain cases they were highly-charged symbolic objects that were for giving, for receiving, for placing into circulation, for treasuring or for consecrating. In effect, the Alpine jade examples and those of dolerite are often found in the same kind of findspot context, deposited as hoards (Cordier and Bocquet 1998). As with the Alpine jades, it could therefore be this social 'charge' that gave meaning to the 'object-signs' made of dolerite, especially those that travelled long distances.…”

“…This type of adze-head was defined on the basis of eight out of 10 polished blades found together in a hoard at La Bégude-de-Mazenc/Le Gros Jean (Drôme, France), discovered as a result of deep earth-moving operations (Cordier and Bocquet 1998;Thirault 1999). All of the items in the hoard are of eclogite or jadeitite -Alpine jades exploited in the Mont Viso massif, on the Italian side of the Alps, 70 km south-west of Turin.…”

The politics of supply: the Neolithic axe industry in Alpine Europe

“…In the Rhône basin alpine eclogites coming from Piedmontese outcrops are found in Valais, in the middle valley of the Rhône and in the Southern foothills of the Alps, and a parallel can be made with the squared-mouth pots which are attested on numerous Saint-Uze sites or sites of the ancient Chassey style in the Rhône basin (Beeching 1999). The products include long blades entirely polished (Bégude type), with a very convex edge which show a more regular aspect than the Zermatt type (Pétrequin et al 1997(Pétrequin et al , 1998Cordier & Bocquet 1998;Thirault 1999Thirault , 2001a.…”

The Role of Stone in Island Societies in Neolithic Atlantic Europe: Creating Places and Cultural Landscapes

“…This phenomenon is a useful, reflective place to start examining the role of such objects, considering examples in which the last act in the use of objects was their placement back into the physical environment. Taking a broader perspective on early farming societies in Europe, the deposition of hoards is also a widely recurring feature of the European Neolithic (e.g., Cordier and Bocquet, 1998;Pétrequin et al, 2012), which suggests that it was a recurring theme in the engagement of people with the material world.…”