From Mont Viso to Slovakia

The two axeheads of alpine jade from Golianovo

Bibliographic Data

ID13145474
AuthorsPierre Pétrequin (0009-0005-9758-5168, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author), Michel Errera (Maison des sciences humaines et environnementales Claude Nicolas Ledoux), Serge Cassen (0000-0001-7543-8267, Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire), Estelle Gauthier (0000-0001-9935-1924, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), D Hovorka (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Lutz Klassen (0000-0002-2378-8684), Alison Sheridan (0009-0001-1736-3647)
Year2011
Volume62
Issue2
Pages243-268
Publication date2011-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueActa Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-5210 • E-ISSN: 1588-2551
PublisherAkadémiai Kiadó (PUBLISHER • HU)
DOI10.1556/aarch.62.2011.2.1
OpenAlexW2155085473
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited13

Two fragments of large jadeitite axeheads were discovered in a Lengyel enclosure at Golianovo (Republic of Slovakia), close to Nitra. Spectroradiometric analysis and macroscopic characteristics indicate that, in all probability, these two artefacts — which are exceptional in this region of Europe — had come from the Neolithic quarries on Mont Viso, in the Italian Alps, some 950 km away as the crow flies.The two axehead fragments from Golianovo probably belong among the early Durrington type axeheads, which appear at the end of the 6th millennium BC. They were found associated with a large enclosure of the early Lengyel Culture (the Lužianky phase), dating to the beginning of the 5th millennium.Within a Europe that was divided between a ‘jade Europe’ in the west and a ‘copper Europe’ in the east, the Alpine axeheads from Golianovo constitute an important ‘route marker’ illustrating the circulation of socially valorised objects from northern Italy towards southeast Europe around 5000 BC. These early contacts are confirmed by the presence of axeheads made from Alpine jades in the enclosure at Kamegg and in the cemetery at Friebritz-Süd in LowerAustria, at Semerovce in Slovakia, and probably also in the cemetery at Alsónyék-Kanizsa in Hungary

Archaeology · Geography · JADE (particle detector · Physics · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Mineralogy and Gemology Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

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