The Distribution of Jade Axes in Europe with a supplement to the catalogue of those from the British Isles

Abstract

In the course of my work on Jade Axes from sites in the British Isles (PPS, XXIX, p. 133) I had occasion to consult descriptions of jade axes from Europe and to make notes on all those in publications available to me. I have now plotted on an outline map of Europe (fig. 1) the sites of recorded jade axes and have added also the locations of the few jade axes from France in the British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, and in the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, which I have examined.This map is far less complete than that showing the distribution of jade axes in the British Isles, op. cit., fig. 4, which shows the location of every jade axe known in museums or in private hands as well as a few mentioned in the literature but not traced.The new records of British axes, recorded at the end of this paper, have been shown on the outline of the British Isles, included on the present map which reveals a large increase in the concentration in East Anglia.As regards Europe, apart from the few jade axes from France mentioned above, the records plotted are confined to those known to me from publications and I have had to rely on the authors' identifications of the materials used. These are confirmed by density determinations for a great many of the axes from Germany and for a few of those from Italy.

The organization of basanite bifacial production at Giv’at Kipod Quarry, Israel: Towards an ‘Alyawara Day’ model of extraction

“…Axes and adzes have long been identified as instruments used by ethnographic horticulturist and Neolithic societies for altering their environments and as a means of symbolic expression, specifically pertaining to men (e.g., Campbell-Smith 1965;Burton 1984;Claris & Quartermaine 1989;Darvill 1989;Bradley & Edmonds 1993: 53;Pétrequin & Pétrequin 1993: 359-361;Thomas & Tilley 1993;Cooney 1998;le Roux 1998;Pétrequin et al 1998). These tools first appear in the southern Levant during the PPNA period (ca.…”

“…While archaeological research invests considerable efforts to produce correlations between artefacts and specific outcrops of raw materials in the landscape (e.g., Campbell-Smith 1965;Gluhak & Hofmeister 2009;Özbek 2011), we still know very little about how behavioural patterns and procurement strategies differed between the extraction of common raw material and raw materials of some "special" significance. In this paper we attempt to explore such differences through an in-depth investigation of the basanite bifacial production site of Giv'at Kipod, Menashe Hills, Israel, the only basaltic axe production site known in the Levant, and comparison to other flint workshops.…”

Neolithic ‘Greenstone’ Axe Blades From Northwestern Italy Across Europe: A First Petrographic Comparison*

“…The Netherlands- Overweel (1983); Schut et al (1987). The United Kingdom-HP metaophiolites: Campbell Smith (1963Smith ( , 1965Smith ( , 1972; Coles et al (1974); Jones et al (1977); Curtis (1997); for the evaluation of total tools and 'others', Pitts (1996).…”

Neolithic greenstone in Umbria, from the Bellucci Collection. Petrography, provenance, interpretation

“…Campbell Smith 1963Smith , 1965Smith , 1972; D'Amico 2005; D' Amico et al 1998Amico et al , 2006Pétrequin et al 2002Pétrequin et al , 2003Pétrequin et al , 2005Pétrequin et al , 2006Pétrequin et al , 2007Ricq-de-Bouard et al 1990, 1996Surmely et al 2001;Thirault 2001a,b;Wolley 1983). Important palaeo-ethnological interpretations regarding this European export may be found in the numerous papers by Pétrequin and coworkers (op.…”