Algunas reflexiones sobre un hacha de jadeíta de procedencia alpina depositada en la Real Academia Galega (A Coruña, Galicia)

El análisis arqueométrico de un hacha de color verde recuperada en los años 20 del pasado siglo en el entorno de Monte Aberto-Elviña (A Coruña), que probablemente habría formado parte del ajuar de uno de los tres túmulos que componían la necrópolis homónima, ha permitido determinar que se trata de un hacha tipo Durrington “goutte d’eau”, fabricada en jadeíta de origen alpino proveniente posiblemente de las formaciones existentes en San Front (Cuneo, Piamonte). Esta circunstancia la convierte –tras el hacha de Vilapedre (Lugo)– en la segunda pieza de procedencia alpina documentada en territorio gallego. En este artículo se intenta determinar el origen arqueológico del hacha de Monte Aberto-Elviña con la mayor exactitud posible, al tiempo que se ofrecen los resultados del análisis arqueométrico y se reflexiona sobre el cómo y el cuándo esta pieza habría llegado al Noroeste Ibérico. ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the results of the archaeometric analysis of a green stone axe recovered in the 1920s around Monte Aberto-Elviña, on the outskirts of the city of A Coruña (Galicia, northwestern Spain). The review of the work carried out by a Galician archaeologist –Luis Monteagudo– in the 30s and 40s of the last century has allowed us to establish, with a high degree of certainty, that the axe analyzed in this paper was part of the grave goods from one of the three burial mounds comprising the necropolis of Monte Aberto-Elviña, which was destroyed at some point in the second half of the twentieth century. The analysis of this artefact through X-Ray Diffraction and SEM-EDX and its subsequent comparison with geological samples from several points of the Alps has allowed us to determine that the Monte Aberto-Elviña is –in fact– a Durrington “goutte d’eau” type axe made of Alpine jadeite, showing a compositional similarity with the geological samples coming from San Front (Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy). In addition to trying to determine –as accurately as possible– the archaeological and geological origin of the Monte Aberto-Elviña axe, this article reflects on its possible way to the Iberian Peninsula (proposing a route through the Bay of Biscay, without ruling out the arrival along the Mediterranean coast, perhaps through the Catalan territory, which may have acted as a redistribution center of Alpine pieces for the rest of the Peninsula). Finally, comparing the chronology of the Durrington “goutte d’eau” axes in other European regions and the chronological dates available for the Galician burial mounds, we suggest an arrival of this artefact in the Iberian northwest sometime in the second half of the 5th millennium BC or, more likely, in the early 4th millennium BC.