Stone axe heads hoard from Sant’Alessandro, Volterra (Pisa): a case of ceraunia deposit?

Abstract

Here is presented a group of polished axe heads found in 2016 in Volterra, in a place named Sant’Alessandro, in a context that has returned only materials of the recent Orientalizing (mid-7th - beginning of 6th century b.C.). Immediately below a housing structure, a pit containing 5 objects in polished stone, referable to the Neolithic Age and made in High Pressure metaophiolites of the Western Alps, was brought to light. It is one of the rare hoards of green stone objects known in Italy. Given the absence of Neolithic materials in the area and the stratigraphic position of the pit, it is also possible to assume with prudence that these objects were collected as ceraunia by the Iron Age populations, as already documented in other sites of the same period.

Keywords

• polished stone industry
• neolithic
• axe heads hoard
• high pressure metaophiolites from western alps
• ceraunia