Callaïs

Callaïs is the generic name for ancient green-blue precious stones used for making pendants and beads by western European cultures of the later Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The term includes turquoise and variscite but not jade.[1][2][3] "Callaïs" was described by Pliny the Elder as being paler than lapis lazuli.[4] Callaïs objects have been found in Neolithic tombs from the mid-5th millennium BC in the Carnac region of western France.[2][1]

An example of a variscite "callaïs" necklace of Neolithic origin, dated 4500 - 4000 BC, found in Arzon. The necklace now located in the Musée d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Vannes.

Callaïs deposits are thought to have been widely distributed throughout the Iberian peninsula, and transported from Andalusia, Castile, and Catalonia to Brittany, Normandy, and the Paris Basin.[2]

References
  1. La parure en callaïs du néolithique européen. G. Querré, Serge Cassen, Emmanuel Vigier. Oxford. 2019. pp. 85, 423. ISBN 978-1-78969-281-5. OCLC 1128026690.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. Cassen, Serge; Petrequin, Pierre; Guirec, Querre; Grimaud, Valentin; Rodriguez-Rellan, Carlos (2019). "Spaces and signs for the transfer of jade and callaïs in the Neolithic of Western Europe". A taste for green : a global perspective on ancient jade, turquoise and variscite exchange. Carlos Rodríguez-Rellán, Ben A. Nelson, Ramón Fábregas Valcarce. Oxford. pp. 122–132. ISBN 978-1-78925-277-4. OCLC 1129585280.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. Rodriguez-Rellan, Carlos; Fábregas Valcarce, Ramón; Faustino Carvalho, António (2019). "From the green belt: an appraisal on the circulation of Western Iberian variscite". A Taste for Green: A global perspective on ancient jade, turquoise and variscite exchange. Carlos Rodríguez-Rellán, Ben A. Nelson, and Ramón Fábregas Valcarce. Oxford, England: Oxbow Books. pp. 77–96. ISBN 978-1-78925-277-4. OCLC 1129585280.
  4. Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia, liber xxxvii. pp. lvi 151.


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