Publication details
The jadeitite-omphacitite and nephrite axeheads in Europe. The case of the Czech Republic
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | Polished stone tools made of jadeitite-omphacitite and n představují pravděpodobněephrite represent probably the most prestigious goods of the European Neolithic before the spread of copper artefacts. This extraordinary status was derived from the high quality of both the stone raw materials and their unique appearance and rare occurrence. Today, thanks to extensive pan-European research and important finds from the last decades, we have a lot of information about jadeitite-omphacite tools in prehistoric Europe. They originate in the western Alps (in the first place from the Mont Viso Massif, Piemonte, NW Italy) and they are disseminated over an impressive distance of about 1500 km. The second group of these prestige artefacts, nephrite axeheads, played an important social and economic role in different parts of Europe, e.g. the Balkan Peninsula, Switzerland and the eastern part of central Europe. In this region, especially in the present-day Czech Republic, there is a significant difference in the distribution of these artefacts between Bohemia in the west and Moravia in the east of the Czech Republic. |