Abstract: — Prehistoric polished stone tools are now fairly well-known from a petrographic point of view in Northern Italy. Many more than one thousand implements sampled from the most important sites and collections (axes, adzes, chisels, some ornaments and various tools fragments), have been analysed. These artefacts were commonly employed from the Neolithic period onwards for working wood and cutting the forest trees. Surface optical observations, density, thin sections, XRD, microprobe analyses and bulk chemistry have been employed, alone or in combination, for petrographic study oriented to archaeometric interpretation. Alpine eclogites, jades (Na-pyroxenites) and other minor HP (High Pressure) metaophiolites dominate the polished stone lithology of Northern Italy, being at least 70% and often surpassing 90% of stone materials in single sites. Petrographic, geochemical, minerochemical, textural data of the studied rocks are described and discussed in some detail. A number of new definitions are introduced. The provenance of the raw material is identified as being NW Italy, essentially Piedmont and Liguria. These regions represent one of the few geological zones in the world where alpine eclogites and jades occur, both as primary outcrops in the High Alps, alluvial and morainic deposits along the valleys, and Oligocene conglomerates in the Northwestern Apennines. The dominance of eclogites and jades among the prehistoric polished stone tools represents a lithic selection of cultural significance. This selection seems to be justified by litho-technological (best mix of hardness, toughness and density) and aesthetic (fine green colours, translucency) reasons, which caused the exclusion of other, elsewhere common, lithologies. The remarkable presence of jade and alpine eclogite lithologies among the Western and rarely Central European axe blades (mostly status symbol or ceremonial axes) gives evidence of a relevant long distance exportation of HP metaophiolite materials from NW Italy to France, Germany, Benelux, Great Britain, etc., up to1000-1500 km far from the source areas. The still unsystematic petrographic knowledge of the HP-metaophiolitic stones of the axe blades in Europe, as well as in the Italian Peninsula, allows only a preliminary comparison with the better known Northern Italian implements. RIASSUNTO. — La pietra preistorica dell’Italia settentrionale e ora abbastanza ben conosciuta da un punto di vista petrografico. Ben oltre mille strumenti sono stati campionati e analizzati da raccolte di molti siti importanti (lame di asce e accette, scalpelli, ornamenti e vari frammenti). I piu comuni manufatti sono asce/accette che furono comunemente utilizzate dal Neolitico per lavorare il legno e tagliare gli alberi. Osservazioni ottiche delle superfici, densita, sezioni sottili, XRD, analisi di Per. Mineral. (2003), 73, 17-42 http://go.to/permin SPECIAL ISSUE 3: A showcase of the Italian research in applied petrology Eclogites, jades and other HP-metaophiolites employed for prehistoric polished stone implements in Italy and Europe CLAUDIO D’AMICO1*, ELISABETTA STARNINI2, GIORGIO GASPAROTTO1 and MASSIMO GHEDINI3 1 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Bologna, P.za Porta S. Donato, 1, 40126 Bologna, Italy 2 Dipartimento di Archeologia e Filologia Classica, Universita di Genova, C.so Europa, 26, 16132 Genova, Italy 3 GeaDue, v.le Oriani 9, 40137 Bologna, Italy * Corresponding author, E-mail: damico@geomn.unibo.it An International Journal of MINERALOGY, CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, GEOCHEMISTRY, ORE DEPOSITS, PETROLOGY, VOLCANOLOGY and applied topics on Environment, Archaeometry and Cultural Heritage microsonda e chimica totale sono state usate, da sole o in combinazione, per studi petrografici orientati all’interpretazione archeometrica. Eclogiti alpine, giade (Na-pirosseniti), e minori HP-metaofioliti dominano la litologia della pietra levigata dell’Italia del Nord, essendo almeno il 70% e spesso superando il 90% dei materiali in pietra nei singoli siti. Dati petrografici, geochimici, minerochimici e tessiturali sono presentati e discussi con qualche dettaglio. Qualche nuova definizione e stata introdotta. La provenienza della materia prima e identificata con il NW Italiano, essenzialmente Liguria e Piemonte. Queste regioni rappresentano una delle poche aree geologiche al mondo dove affiorano eclogiti alpine e giade, sia come masse geologiche primarie nella Alte Alpi, sia come depositi morenici ed alluvionali lungo le valli, sia come conglomerati oligocenici nell’Appennino di NW. La dominanza di eclogiti e giade nella pietra levigata preistorica rappresenta una selezione litica di significato culturale. Tale selezione sembra giustificata da ragioni litotecnologiche (la migliore associazione di durezza, tenacita e peso specifico) ed estetiche (bel colore verde, tranlucidita), che provocarono l’esclusione d’uso di altre litologie, che pure sono comuni in altre aree. La rimarchevole presenza di giade ed eclogiti alpine nella litologia di lame d’ascia nell’Europa occidentale (spesso in forma di oggetti di status symbol e asce cerimoniali) e, in minor misura, centrale mette in evidenza una rilevante esportazione su lunga distanza di materiali HPmetaofiolitici dall’Italia di NW verso la Francia, la Germania, Il Benelux, la Gran Bretagna ecc. fino a 1000-1500 km dalle aree di provenienza. La conoscenza petrografica non ancora sistematica delle lame d’ascia modellate in HP-metaofioliti in Europa, come pure nella penisola italiana, permette per ora solo un confronto preliminare con i meglio conosciuti manufatti nord-italiani.

Abstract: .,1999; 2000a; 2000b) reveal that the production ofsuch materials, and of mortars and plasters, was nota simple process. There is increasing evidence thatblends of natural materials were studied in ancientbuilding sites and that different technical solutionswere adopted to resolve specific problems. The reported case studies represent a variety ofconstruction contexts and periods, and differentissues were addressed in each study.Each construction site found a unique solutionwhich was obtained by «correcting» the parametersof locally available geomaterials and involved thestudy of complex analytical strategies suited to eachspecific case. The study of hydraulic mortars used to constructthe Tower of Pisa is an example of how scientificinvestigation can help reconstruct ancient productionrecipes that were never recorded in any manual ofthe period. R

Abstract: At present about 60 different kinds of stones are quarried in the Italian Western Alps, most of which are metamorphic rocks (gneiss, ophicalcite, marble and quartzite) and, to a lesser extent, magmatic (granite, syenite and diorite), with an overall production of 380.000 m3 in the year 2002. This work synthetically illustrates their geologic and petrographic characteristics, gives essential historical information and examines the technical, environmental and economic aspects of their extraction and production

Abstract: The Ossola Valley (north-western Italy) is well known in Italy both for its geological features and for the exploitation of various rock types. Among these the most valuable gneiss is the Beola used as building or ornamental stone since the Roman Age. The different varieties of Beola are exploited in four main areas according to their geological and structural setting: Vogogna (Fobello- Rimella mylonitic schists - Austroalpine), Beura- Villadossola (Monte Rosa nappe orthogneisses - Upper Penninic), Trontano-Domodossola (Orselina- Moncucco-Isorno orthogneisses - Upper Penninic) and Montecrestese-Crevoladossola (Monte Leone nappe orthogneisses - Lower Penninic). This paper deals with the historical use of the Beola and its quarries and presents new data on the petrographical, geochemical and mechanical features of the different varieties. The mineralogical composition of the Beola varieties is quite homogeneous: Qtz+Kfs+Pl+Bt+WM; the main differences are related to the rock fabric and to the presence of accessory/secondary minerals. The «Quarzite» Verde from Vogogna has the worst value of wear resistance (14.17 mm; Amsler), the Beola Argentea from Montecrestese-Crevoladossola has the best one (4.06 mm); whereas the other rock types have quite homogeneous values (5-8 mm). The flexural strength is remarkably different as function of the load applied parallel or perpendicular to the rock fabric (foliation or lineation) ranging from 19.5 to 11.3 MPa for the Beola Grigia and from 16.1 to 6.0 MPa for the Beola Ghiandonata of the Beura- Villadossola area. The water absorption value is usually low (0.27-0.44%) for all the Beola types. Based on the geo-mechanical features and the aesthetic parameters, the Beola Bianca, Favalle and subordinately the Beola Grigia are the most valuable varieties of the Ossola district.