deep blue-green, translucent hue with white flecking, are becoming more highly valued because of its unique beauty and historical use by the Mesoamerican Olmec and also in Costa Rica. Stone Age use Over 180 axe heads made from jadeitite quarried in northern Italy in the Neolithic era have been found across the British Isles. Because of the difficulty of working this material, all the axe heads of this type found are thought to have been non-utilitarian and to have represented some form of currency or be the products of gift exchange. A great many jadeite beads and axe heads as well as the remains of jadeite workshops from the Neolithic era have been uncovered in Itoigawa, Japan. These beads and axes were traded throughout Japan and the Korean Peninsula and were produced by the world's oldest known jadeite-using culture, centered on the Itoigawa region. See also Clinopyroxene thermobarometry Costa Rican jade tradition Jade use in Mesoamerica List of minerals References External links Sodium minerals Aluminium minerals Pyroxene group Monoclinic minerals Minerals in space group 15 Jade