Introduction. 3 



The most important investigation in the direction of proving the 

 indigenous origin of the jade objects of Switzerland was undertaken 

 by A. Bodmer-Beder in Zurich. 1 He made a great number of careful 

 examinations of stone implements from the Swiss lake-dwellings and 

 by comparing these with the analyses of the raw material found in 

 Switzerland, he arrived at the conclusion that the species of nephrite 

 met with in the nephrite objects of Lake Zug occurs in situ in the 

 territory of the Gotthard, whence it arrived in the district of Zug through 

 the movement of glaciers and rivers, and that also the human products 

 discovered in the other lakes are of autochthonous material. Scientists 

 are generally convinced now that the end of the nephrite question 

 has come, that such a question no longer exists. It seems perfectly 

 safe to assume that the ancient jade objects of Europe and America 

 were not imported from Asia, but, for the greater part, manufactured 

 on the spot. Certainly, it does not now follow that each and every 

 jade object wherever found must be a local production, and that an 

 historical inquiry is gagged forever. The channels of historical devel- 

 opment are manifold and complex, and the working after an easy 

 schematic routine is fatal and infertile. No lesser archaeologist than 

 Sophus Muller (Urgeschichte Europas, p. 21, Strassburg, 1905) 

 sounded a timely warning to this over-enthusiasm by remarking: 

 "It is true, one has succeeded in recent years after long search in 

 pointing out nephrite and jadeite in the Alps, but merely under condi- 

 tions which render it highly improbable that the extensive territories 

 where such hatchets are found should have derived them from there. 

 We may rather presume with certainty that at least a great part of 

 the hatchets mentioned have been imported by commerce from the 

 Orient, 2 whence the knowledge of polishing hatchets is derived. At a 

 somewhat later time, an extensive trade in stone artefacts was carried 

 on within the boundaries of Europe." 



The naturalists have had their say in the matter, but the historian 

 is entitled to push his reflections farther on. Further investigations 

 will be required for a satisfactory solution of all questions bearing 

 on the dissemination of jade implements. The origin, e. g., of the 

 jade hatchets unearthed by Schliemann in the oldest walled city at 

 Hissarlik has, to my knowledge, not yet been determined. I certainly 

 admit that the question in its widest range as raised by Fischer has 

 been settled, but there are still other sides to it calling for attention. 



1 Petrographische Untersuchungen von Steinwerkzeugen und ihrer Rohmateria- 

 lien aus Schweizerischen Pfahlbaustatten (Neues Jahrbuchfur Mineralogie, Vol. XVI, 

 1903, p. 166). 



2 Compare article by C. Mehlis, Exotische Steinbeile (Archiv fur Anthropologic, 

 Vol. XXVII, 1902, No. 4, pp. 599-611). 



