Social Interpretations of the Transfers of Alpine Jades Axe-heads in the Neolithic Europe Spatial Analysis in the Framework of the ANR Program JADE 2

The ANR program JADE 2 is dedicated to the study of long axeheads and ring-discs made of Alpine jades (jadeitites, omphacitites and finegrained eclogites) in Europe, during the Vth-IVth millennia BC. Exploited at high-altitude quarries in the Italian Alps, jade objects circulated throughout western Europe, over considerable distances, up to 2,000 km. Beyond the apparent unity of these transfer networks, from the centers of production in Piedmont, Liguria and western Emilia, a complex way of difusion appears, involving selections of raw material and transformations of objects. A systematic and detailed inventory across Europe exploited with a set of spatial analysis makes possible now to understand some of the mechanisms behind this unique phenomenon of transfers. he picture drawn by the distributions and contexts of burying is highly unequal societies in which the elite controlled the circulation of the most valued jades for their social representation and religious rituals. he multiplicity of transfer networks, selection processes aiming to increase their added value, regional re-appropriations of the best pieces in order to revive their ideational value, are particular phenomena which prove that the transfers of Alpine jades axeheads are related to particularly complex difusion processes where the social, politic and cultural factors took precedence over the economic functions.