Identification and source provenance of jadeite-bearing jade axes from Ulucak Höyük, Western Anatolia

The jades from Ulucak Höyük (İzmir, Turkey) are green-colored in hand specimen, and combined petrographic, XRD, and whole-rock analyses indicate that they mainly comprise jadeitic clinopyroxene, characterizing them as jadeite-bearing jades. Primitive mantle (PM)-normalized multi-element patterns reveal two distinct chemical groups. Both groups display depletion in Th and U; however, Group 1 shows a narrower elemental range and marked positive Pb anomaly. The second group, on the other hand, displays a wide elemental range in most elements and strong negative anomalies in Zr and Hf ([Nd/Zr]PM = 1.6–4.2; [Sm/Hf]PM = 1.8–3.5). Regarding REE systematics, both groups are characterized by weak positive slopes ([La/Yb]Ch = 1.7–5.3). However, whereas Group 1 shows coherent LREE-enriched trends, Group 2 displays flat- to LREE-enriched patterns with a wide range in Eu. When the geochemical features of Ulucak jades are compared with the high-pressure (HP) metamorphic rocks from Turkey and Greece, the similar multi-element patterns of Syros eclogites (Greece) to Group 2 Ulucak jades make Syros a possible source area for the Ulucak artefacts. On the other hand, the geochemical resemblance of the Sifnos jadeite-bearing gneisses to Group 1 Ulucak jades may raise the possibility of this island being another source for the Ulucak jades.