Prehistoric polished stone artefacts in Italy: a petrographic and archaeological assessment

Abstract

AbstractThe paper illustrates the results of an archaeometric project on the raw material characterization of some collections of prehistoric polished stone tools, dated from the Early Neolithic to the Bronze Age, from sites located in Northern Italy. The petrographic analyses (surface and thin-section microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive spectrometry, X-ray fluorescence, atomic absorption spectrometry) revealed a raw material circulation network involving the whole of Northern Italy. Here occur the outcrops of high-pressure (HP) meta-ophiolites, which were widely utilized from the Early Neolithic onwards for the manufacture of polished cutting-edged tools, which are represented by axes, adzes and chisels. Other raw materials, such as serpentinites, seem to have been preferred for the production of other types of artefacts, including stone rings used as bracelets. The analyses revealed that the prehistoric polished stone artefacts were made from uncommon lithologies such as Alpine eclogites, jades and other HP meta-ophiolites. These rocks were exploited from primary and secondary sources, mainly located in Piedmont, the Aosta Valley and Liguria. During the Neolithic these lithologies are the dominant raw material for the polished stone tools in Northern Italy and southeastern France. In the same period, in other European countries the same lithologies occur less frequently as axe or adze blades; in NW Europe they were frequently used for manufacturing long ceremonial axes, which have a typology that does not appear to belong to the Italian tradition.