Les «roches vertes Alpines ». Production et Circulations Neolithiques en Italie Septentrionale

The “alpine greenstones” are high pressure metaophiolites (eclogites, jades, serpentinites, omphacitic and glaucophanic schists…), a row material used for the production of polished artifacts (axe-blades, bracelets…). Their use started in the Early Neolithic (half of the 5th millennium BC) and finished during 3rd millennium. The sources of raw material are the primary outcrops of the group of Voltri, the Mont Viso, the Suse and Aoste valleys, the derived Oligocene conglomeratic deposits, the unconsolidated clastic deposits on the Alps and Apennine valleys as well as the alluvial and the morainic deposits (Piedmont, Ligury, Aoste Valley, Southwestern Lombardy). Raw materials from the primary alpine were privileged for the production of the large ceremonial blades of European distribution. The detritus origin prevails for the manufacture of utilitarian blades discovered in Northern Italy. The site of Rivanazzano is presented here by its exceptional characteristics; the technological observations and the petrographic analysis allow comparisons with some Neolithic sites of Northern Italy and allot to Rivanazzano a specialized function of center of production.