The only alpine rocks found among the Neolithic polished tools of the French Mediterranean zone and a few perialpine areas are glaucophane rocks, s.l. éclogites and jadeilites. Serpentinites were used in western Switzerland and the Jura only. The areas containing primary and secondary outcrops of these rocks have been determined. A serie of arguments allows the authors to assert that essentially secondary deposits were exploited in the Neolithic. An analysis of the way these rocks are represented among the tools has evidenced various methods of circulating materials (raw materials, blanks or end-products ?) : a regional circulation for glaucophane rocks, a long-distance circulation for s.l. éclogites and probably jadéitites. Different flows of circulation have been considered for the latter two. Some arguments in favour of a Ligurian origin for the s.l. eclogite tools in southern France are presented.
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Bouard et al. (1990) studied this question.