gems, jade, nephrite, Europe, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Poland

Berwerth reports the occurrence of nephrite from the Sann River (present-day Savinja River) in Lower Styria, now Slovenia. He describes the material and its mineralogical characteristics and discusses its identification as nephrite in relation to similar material known from other European localities. The occurrence was of particular interest because contemporary debate centered on whether nephrite objects found at European prehistoric sites had been manufactured from indigenous material or from jade imported over long distances. The paper thus provides evidence relevant to the nineteenth-century discussion of European nephrite sources and the provenance of prehistoric jade implements.