Neolithic artefacts in ‘Jade’ from Rocca di Cavour (Northwestern-Italy): archaeometric characterization, geologic contextualization and provenance

Artefacts in presumed ‘ jade ’ were used all over Europe during Neolithic. Their archaeometric investigation, due to this geo-resource scarcity, allows extrapolating info about supply sources and/or trades. The greenstone industry of the Rocca di Cavour settlement was characterized and compared to geologic ‘jades’ from circumscribed – yet mostly unmapped – outcrops on the Monviso Massif and adjoining valleys. Most tools are made of eclogite, jadeitite and omphacitite – a distribution found also in natural samples. The systematic detection of peculiar petrographic features confirms that all artefacts derive from the Monviso and highlights that these rocks form after metasomatic processes in shear-zones rich in aqueous fluids, typical of Western Alps – justifying their actual location and scarceness. Despite this, they were specifically sought after due to their technological potential, producing tools whose distribution expanded far beyond their sources. Relict surfaces suggest these artefacts were shaped by pebbles/cobbles from the Pellice or Po Rivers alluvial deposits.